Sibling Rivalry
by BookWorm37
Summary: After Sarah bested Jareth’s Labyrinth, he tried to forget her. Eight years of living in agony without her, he tries to earn her love again this time with the help of a woman whose advice he rejected the first time around. SJ COMPLETE
1. Saga

A/N: Okay, my first chaptered Labyrinth fic. I really shouldn't be starting it right now considering I have three other WIP's in other categories, but I wanted to get some feedback on this.

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The white owl flew into the open window of the room high in the tree-tower located many leagues away from the confines of the Labyrinth and Goblin City. He found perch on an inverted branch protruding from the circular wall, as he watched the lone occupant of the room mix herbs and spices into some unknown concoction.

Hunched over her table of dried herbs, it was impossible for the owl to see more than the light brown hair that was pulled back in an elaborate knot at the base of the woman's neck. Her skin was tan and smooth, perfectly complimented by the off-white robes she wore over her amulet. Despite his inability to see more of the woman, he knew exactly what she looked like.

Without stopping in her work she spoke: "I warned you to put the child back, Jareth. I told you that she would best your Labyrinth. I_ also_ told you that she wouldn't take your petty trifles and insincere apologies when you gave them. Why is it that you never listen to me?"

The owl transformed into the Goblin King, dressed in his royal armor, before Jareth said, "Saga, I need your help."

That rendered a more prominent response from the woman: she straightened to her full height (which happened to be only a few inches shorter than Jareth), turned to the blond haired king and tilted her head back, all the while laughing heartily.

When her mirth was under control, Saga's black dancing eyes met the silently fuming orbs of the Goblin King. "The great Goblin King needs _help_?" she sneered. "I thought you didn't take help from seers. At least, that's what you told me the _last_ time I offered to help you."

Jareth's jaw muscle twitched with the effort it took to suppress the urge to snarl at Saga in rage, silently reasoning with himself that he had to at least _appear_ humble before this woman if he was to regain Sarah. "I was wrong, Saga. Give me advice, I will listen to you now," he said through clenched teeth.

Saga raised her eyebrows, fully aware of his silent battle and feeling no pity for him even eight years after the fact, "Hm, will you now? Very well, brother of mine, I'll help you gain what you seek. But bear in mind that I will call on your aid at some point, should I need it. I don't help you for nothing in return. Not this time." She turned back to her worktable and picked up a small packet of herbs without waiting for his response, "Dissolve this in cool water and drink it. It will make you sleep. I will help you, but I won't have you breathing down my neck while I do so."

He took the herbs, putting them in the pouch attached to his belt as she continued, "I will bring her here willingly, Jareth, but it will be _your_ job to make her stay _willingly_."

Jareth nodded, accepting the help she offered. Saga continued speaking before he could change form, "Jareth, I mean it: she must stay _willingly_. I won't be concocting a memory distortion spell again for another peach. You must win her over without magic if your heart's desires are to be fulfilled."

Jareth nodded again before turning into his owl form and taking flight. Saga watched him go before she transformed into a barn owl and took flight – but her direction was for the Aboveground and a house hidden away in the suburbs.

---

Sarah Williams, now twenty-three years of age, watched her young brother, Toby, as he rode down the sidewalk on his new bicycle. She missed this – watching him play, knowing that she had kept him safe when the time had called for it, and knowing that she'd do so again at a moment's notice.

After her little adventure Underground with the Labyrinth, Sarah had returned home to find that the only way to stop thinking about the Goblin King and his offer was to work – hard. She had finished high school two years early and was now visiting her family after her graduation from college with a master's degree in literature.

Unfortunately, visiting her family meant that she was bombarded again with thoughts of the Labyrinth and the Goblin King, Jareth. Her well constructed mental defenses against such thoughts were soon mush against he onslaught of feelings that remained from her time with Jareth. God help her, she was in love with the arrogant son of a bitch.

She had a good life now – a man who loved her and wanted to marry her (a man she loved back). Her life was finally coming together … then _she_ appeared.

At first Sarah thought she was just another passing woman, but when she stopped and looked Sarah in the eye, the young woman could see the magic lurking just beyond the black color of her pupils.

"Are you Sarah Williams?" the strange beauty asked, her voice low and lovely.

Sarah nodded dumbly, "Who are you?"

The woman smiled softly, her eyes flickering to where a growing Toby was riding his bicycle a few yards away. "I am Saga," she said. At Sarah's look of amusement her smile widened, "My parents had an … interesting sense of humor. They had to have one to name my brother Jareth."

Sarah froze at the seemingly inconsequential statement. Her body was tense as she turned to look again at her young brother. "You're the Goblin King's sister?"

"Very astute of you, Sarah. I have important matters to discuss with you regarding my brother and the state of his kingdom."

The younger woman finally glanced back at her magical companion, "I can't leave Toby alone right now, Saga."

"I will wait for you, Sarah," Saga whispered into Sarah's ear, "By the clock tower you practiced you lines at that night you wished Toby away to the goblins."

Sarah had closed her eyes against the feel of Saga's breath on her skin, reminding her too much of Jareth's offer eight years before. By the time she had her bearings back, Sarah looked around, but only found Toby riding his bicycle toward her. Saga had vanished.

Paul watched his fiancée closely as she watched her young brother ride his bike. He knew that he should be concerned about the look on her face … but that was the look he'd been waiting for a very long time to see. Yes, he'd have to follow her tonight to see what the woman from his past had wanted.

---

Sarah took a walk after Toby had gone to bed, agreeing with her father and step-mother to not be out very late. She told them she just wanted to take a walk to clear her head, and they accepted her reason without pause. Paul, on the other hand, was none too keen on her going out late at night by herself … not for the reasons everyone suspected, but because he didn't want her alone with _that woman_. However, in the end, he let himself appear to be talked into the "short walk".

The barn owl watched quietly as the now fully grown woman approached. Her eyes slid beyond the woman's form to see the last thing she had expected and the one thing she really didn't want to see: a male Fae in his human form. But this wasn't just any male Fae she saw – no, this Fae was one she especially didn't want to see anywhere near Jareth's chosen mate.

As Sarah neared the clock tower, it chimed ten o'clock and the owl perched on a branch a little ways away, took flight and slowly drifted down to the ground, changing as she did so into her human form. Sarah gasped aloud as she watched the owl transform into the woman she had met just a few short hours before, the only difference being that now she was wearing long, flowing off-white robes that gave her an ethereal appearance as opposed to the navy blue sweat suit she had worn before.

Saga held up her hand to halt Sarah's advancement and the questions that were on the tip of her tongue. Her eyes flickered to something behind Sarah and Saga commanded, "Andvari, stop your hiding."

The man who had followed Sarah from her house came forward out of the shadows, the sneer on his face mocking Saga as he said, "I go by Paul. Now Jareth sends _you_ to do _his_ bidding, Saga. I didn't know you had degraded yourself to the level of servant."

"I serve the Courts, _Andvari_," Saga told him, anger flashing in her dark eyes, "Which is more than I can say for you. What is your purpose here? To woo this girl and take her as your mate?" Her eyes hardened as she cocked her head to one side and said, "Or did you choose her simply because of what it would do to Jareth – _our_ _brother_?"

Sarah's eyes were wide in alarm: Paul/Andvari was Jareth's brother? She knew he had seemed familiar when she first met him … but _Jareth_, the Goblin King's, _brother_? Oh, man, she was _really_ screwed up! Was that why she had instantly felt that connection to him? Magic?

Andvari laughed, "The effects our union will have on Jareth are … as is said here Aboveground: fringe benefits, sister _dear_. Sarah Williams is really quite enchanting on her own."

"Stop talking about me as if I'm not here!" Sarah ordered the two siblings, her ire at her fiancé's behavior rising with his words and their meaning. Saga looked a little mollified and held out her hand to the younger woman.

"Come with me, Sarah. I know you're quite confused right now – and you have every right to be; but come with me and know your heart. I can help you understand."

"No," Andvari ordered his fiancée, "She _already_ knows her heart! _I_ am the one she chose. _I_ will help her understand!"

Saga turned her icy glare back to her brother, "If you're so sure, Andvari, then you have nothing to fear from the Pool. But she _will_ go with me to the Underground; you will _not_ follow where we go; and _she_ will choose from the choices set before her. You cannot help her understand when you do not know what it is to understand."

The human woman looked between the two Fae discussing her, then at the hand outstretched before her. It was slender, pale … like a goddess's. Hesitantly, she took Saga's hand in her own and waited for the glitter and transportation to take place.

"Wait!" Sarah cried as they rematerialized in Jareth's castle, "What about my family?"

Saga smiled softly, calming the younger woman, "They will be safe, Sarah. No Fae or creature from the Underground, or directed from the Underground shall bother them while you decide. Do not fear for them."

The mortal nodded, accepting that answer in a manner much more mature than when she had been fifteen and first visited the Underground. Her mind went back to what Saga had first told her … something about Jareth and the state of his kingdom. "Is Jareth all right, Saga?"

The Fae woman sighed and shook her head, transporting them to his bedchamber, where he slept in the magically induced sleep. Saga whispered her reply, "No, Sarah, he's not. When you left him he fell into a very deep pit of depression. Lashing out at anything and everything to keep from feeling the loss of _you_. His kingdom has suffered much in the eight years since you beat the Labyrinth with the help of Hoggle, Ludo and Sir Didymus. All were forbidden to speak your name within the confines of the Labyrinth; all were forbidden to speak of what the four of you had done; and the King of the Goblins forbade himself from watching you from anything smaller than a five mile distance."

"I-is he …?" Sarah trailed off, unsure how she was to ask if he was dead or dying.

Saga shook her head, "No, physically he's fine, Sarah. To wake him all you must do is kiss him." At Sarah's dubious look Saga added, "You're lips to his, Sarah. Surely you've read of the Sleeping Spell in your fairy tales?"

Sarah looked at her in shock, "That was you?"

"I taught them how to make the potion – I wasn't responsible for how it turned out. The stepmother of Snow White used _far_ too much on that blasted apple she gave the girl. They were very lucky that I refused to tell her how to make the Death Spell."

Sarah looked hesitantly at the man sleeping on the bed. It was just a kiss, right? Just to wake him up. Slowly, she leaned over and pressed her lips against his for a few seconds before pulling away again. As she did so, Jareth's eyes fluttered open and he smirked softly before whispering, "Sarah." His hand came up to stroke her hair.

"Don't start that now, Jareth," Saga said from her vantage point a few feet away, "Sarah and I must be going. There's been a change of plans."

Jareth sat up on his dark bed, his hand dropping from Sarah's hair as he sat there, glaring at his older sister, "What _kind_ of change?"

"Sarah should tell you," Saga said, nodding to the younger woman.

"I'm engaged to be married, Jareth," Sarah whispered, her heart torn between the two brothers. "To your brother, Andvari."

Jareth's eyes, that had held a certain warmth before when he looked at her, turned again into the cold, mismatched orbs that they had been when he first met her eight years before. "Andvari?" he said, his voice arrogant, cold, betrayal evident. "You're _marrying_ _Andvari_?" his accusation stung much more than Sarah thought it should.

She was saved having to answer by Saga, who seemed to be very in tune with what Sarah needed: "Don't get your breeches in a bunch, Jareth. Sarah needs some time to work out how she feels about you and Andvari, and to understand what it is she really wants. I'm taking her with me to a safe place. When she has decided what she will do, we will call on you and Andvari to come and hear her choice."

"_Where_ are you taking her?" Jareth asked fervently before his sister could disappear with his chosen mate and true love.

Saga gave him a look that silently called him a moron, "To see Mother, of course."

Without another word, Sarah and Saga disappeared from Jareth's sight, leaving him only with the sting of anger and betrayal … and maybe a flicker of hope.

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A/N: So? What do you think? I'll try to post again by the end of the week. 


	2. Mother and Father

A/N: Thank you all for your feedback, I'm glad you like this (even if I think it's not nearly my best work - or even that good). I try to have well-rounded plots and characters, but if you see me slipping into cliche-ness please let me know. Life's quite bitter-sweet right now (with more helpings of bitter than sweet), but you can expect another update by the end of next week.

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"Mother" was one of the oldest Fae in existence, her given name being Frigg. She was the High Queen of the Underground, ruling next to her husband, High King Wotan of the Underground. She was still a very beautiful Fae, even at the age of twelve thousand six hundred fifty-two years and counting, and her only daughter, Saga, took after her in many respects. Most of all, though, Frigg took her job as a mother to her children _very_ seriously.

She was walking in her gardens when the two women materialized before her. Frigg smiled lovingly at her eldest child, opening her arms wide in an inviting gesture she said, "Saga."

Saga smiled in relief as she moved to hug the older Fae, "Mother." When they pulled apart, Saga motioned toward Sarah, "This is Lady Sarah of the Aboveground, Mother. We'll be staying with you for a time while she sorts out some things."

The Queen walked the short distance to inspect the woman who had managed to gain the attention of two of her sons. "You look so much like your mother: the same hair and the same eyes. But, my dear, I've been wondering," she spoke, her voice thick with age and wisdom, "How ever did you do it?"

"Do what?" Sarah asked a little nervously, not caring for the way the Fae was looking her over so closely.

"Capture the attention of both Andvari _and_ Jareth?" She smiled softly for a moment, "Well, I _know_ how you captured Andvari's attention … but Jareth," she shook her head, causing her dark brown curls to glint in the sunlight, "He's been so lonely since he's been made Goblin King."

"Mother, it was as it should have been," Saga reminded her, "And it was as I saw it in the Pool." Her black eyes flickered to the human woman beside her mother, "Lady Sarah's presence is enough evidence to that fact."

Frigg nodded, tears brimming in her eyes as a hand touched Sarah's cheek as she repeated, "You look so much like your mother."

Sarah's hand covered Frigg's as she hesitantly asked, "You knew my mother?"

"_Knew_? Child, your mother is a Fae," Frigg's eyes glinted with humor and love. "I presided over her birth, her exile to the Aboveground during which you were conceived, and her appointment as Queen of the Elves when she returned from her exile."

"M-my mother's … _here_?" Sarah asked, her voice constricted and confused as she thought of the possibility of seeing her mother again. "H-how?"

Saga stepped to one side of Sarah, taking one of her arms in her own as Frigg took the other. The three women started walking down the beaten pathway, toward the peach orchard as Saga explained to Sarah about her mother.

"Many thousands of years ago – when I was still in my mother's womb," Saga started, her eyes fixed on the leaves and flowers around them as they entered the tulip fields close to the peach orchards. "My father and mother made a law that dictated certain behaviors of the Fae … your mother broke that law and as punishment she was sent to the Aboveground, stripped of all her powers except immortality for three hundred years.

"She met your father in the final years of her exile and you were born two years before she was allowed to return home." Saga's eyes flickered from Sarah back to the approaching trees, "When your life was discovered, she was offered an ultimatum: she could stay Aboveground with you and your father, leading her life as a mortal woman … or she could return home and never step foot in the Aboveground again."

Sarah felt tears come to her eyes as the realization that her mother had chosen her power and immortality over her own daughter. The three Fae women stopped and Frigg pulled the half-mortal woman into her embrace, "She would have taken you with her if she was able, Sarah."

"Then why didn't she?" she mumbled into Frigg's shoulder.

"The vision I saw in the Pool," Saga explained, her comforting hand on Sarah's shoulder as the young woman cried her heart out. "I saw _you_, Sarah, growing up without a mother even when your father married again to provide one for you. I saw you meeting Jareth and beating the Labyrinth." Her voice died down to a nearly inaudible whisper as she said, "And I saw you bring joy back into the heart of one of my brothers."

"Which one?" Sarah asked, hoping and almost wishing that the choice would be taken out of her hands and made for her. Almost. A small part of her – the remnant of the spoiled little brat of a girl she was before the Labyrinth – insisted that it wouldn't be fair if it _was_ taken out of her hands.

Saga shook her head, an amused smile playing on her face, "That is unclear, Sarah. Even my visions are not complete. If they were then where would be the choice and free will in life? Only you can know who that brother will be."

"But you know already, don't you?" Sarah pestered the seer until the old Fae just laughed at her single mindedness.

"Whether I know or not is of no importance to you, Sarah. Just because I know who you _should_ choose does not mean I know whom you _will_," Saga explained to the exasperated half-mortal woman.

"Now, if all this talk is done for the moment," Frigg said, pointing to the distance, "I believe the Elvin monarchs have arrived for the Council. Would you like to meet your mother, Sarah?"

Sarah watched as the woman and man approached them, their bodies covered in pale green flowing robes similar to Saga's off-white ones. Even at the distance she could tell that her mother was very beautiful. But she had left Sarah behind, choosing immortality and power over her own child.

"No, not yet," she finally whispered, unable to tear her eyes away from the approaching figures. "I'm rather tired, actually. Would you mind if I just lied down for a while?"

Frigg smiled and patted her hand like a loving mother, "Of course. Saga will take you to a suitable room for you to sleep in during your stay here." The mother and daughter had a short, silent conversation before Saga nodded once and took Sarah's hand in hers and the two disappeared.

Sarah's mother and stepfather arrived at Frigg's side moments later, with a bow and curtsy to the High Queen. "Your highness," Sarah's mother said as she rose, "May we inquire who your guests were a moment ago?"

Frigg smiled pleasantly, "That was only my daughter Saga and a guest of hers which will be staying with us for the time being, Naamah."

Naamah smiled with a nod, not liking that she didn't know who the other guest had been, but positive that she would find out in due time. "Of course, your highness."

---

Sarah and Saga rematerialized in a set of rooms decorated in dark blues, grays and black. Sarah looked around at the somehow familiar decorations before asking Saga, "Whose rooms are these?"

"Do you like them? If you are uncomfortable here there is another set of rooms at the ready," Saga told her, bypassing the question of exactly whose rooms they were for the moment.

Sarah looked around the room again, finding herself oddly at peace in the rooms of some unknown individual. Finally she nodded, "I like them. They feel somehow nostalgic. Whose are they?"

Saga smiled slyly as she answered, watching for Sarah's response carefully, "Jareth's."

The young woman's eyes widened as she took in the news that she would be staying in the Goblin King's quarters. "Why did you bring me here?"

The seer shrugged slightly, "Because he always keeps his rooms immaculate and this is how it should be. You have every right to these rooms as he does."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Sarah found herself suddenly very defensive about the situation and unsure how she should feel about staying in the Goblin King's rooms.

Saga sighed and waved her arm, transporting them again to a pool outside the palace. Sarah looked down to discover she was now wearing robes similar to Saga's and that her hair was now pulled back into a braid. "What's going on?"

"We're here to give answers to your questions, Sarah." The seer gazed at her with clear eyes that held no trace of any emotion. "Step into the Pool with me and see what you were too blind to notice eight years prior to this day."

Sarah gazed openly at the Pool, "This is the Pool of Sight," she said more as a statement then as a question. "Wh-what will it show me?"

"The answers to at least some of the questions that lie in your heart," Saga replied cryptically. The truth was she didn't know what the Pool would show. She only knew that this was the best way to properly answer Sarah's questions.

Hesitantly the half-Fae took hold of Saga's hand and stepped into the water with her.

---

High King Wotan of the Underground was examining reports of theft in the outlying farms of his personal domain when a rush of wind from one of the open windows brought in two near identical barn owls into the room to land on the ground before changing into human form. He sighed and motioned with his hand to retrieve the papers that had fallen to the floor with a sliver of magic.

"Have you both lost interest in your bet, sons of mine?" he asked the two men standing in front of him without looking up. "Neither of you should be here until tomorrow."

The elder of the twins before him glared at his brother (younger by a matter of precisely two hours, thirteen minutes and five seconds) before he said, "Rules have been broken, Father."

"Tsk tsk, Jareth," his brother said, "She doesn't want you."

"But you knew I had a claim on her, Andvari," Jareth said, his anger seething hot.

"What claim?" the brown haired twin asked flippantly, "That vision Saga had all those years ago is not a claim. She agreed to marry _me_ after she _rejected _you."

Wotan's eyes darted up at that, "I was under the impression that your sister had barred both of you from entering this castle while the Princess Sarah was here."

"I believe she only informed us that we were not to come in contact with her, Father," Jareth said, knowing that he was blatantly twisting his sister's words, but not caring in the slightest. He turned his attention back to his twin, "And she didn't know what I was offering her and therefore refused out of _ignorance_ – not rejection."

"She is mine!" Andvari said, his voice at a near roar.

"Silence!" their father shouted, rising from his seat. The two men looked down, properly chastised. "She is a half-Fae princess and will be treated as such," he said, his voice now low and dangerous as he approached his sons. "Neither of you are to interfere with your sister's work in _any _way. _No _magic and _do not go near_ the Princess Sarah. Is that understood, my sons?"

"Yes, Father," Jareth and Andvari mumbled together. Neither had been away from home long enough to forget what would happen if they disobeyed their father's command.

Before they could continue speaking, Saga materialized. She bowed to her father, "You highness," before turning to her brothers, "Fools."

Their father chuckled, "What is it, High Seer?"

Saga smiled with a slight bow of her head, "I have just come to inform you all that Princess Sarah has requested that you both stay in different quarters than the ones you are familiar with."

"Why?" Jareth asked, furrowing his brow.

Saga looked at him with clear eyes as she replied, "Because she is not married to either of you and wants to be positive that neither of you will walk in on her bathing." She saw the blush that crept over both their faces and added, "I've put a shield over the rooms, as well, so you will not be able to spy on her through your crystals."

"You let her stay in _our _rooms?" Andvari said, outraged at the idea.

"What's the matter, brother? You, yourself, gave them to her when you offered her your bed and title," Jareth spat. He was actually quite pleased that Sarah would be roaming his rooms and able to discern for herself that he was not a complete ogre.

The younger twin glared at the elder before disappearing in a glittery display of magic.

"Does her mother know that she's here?" Jareth asked his sister.

Saga shook her head, "Sarah's not ready to see her yet."

"Where is she now?"

"Resting. We just returned from the Pool. I'm sure you remember how tiresome that can be for those who don't often enter its waters."

Jareth just nodded, knowing that his sister wouldn't tell him anything that was shown to Sarah while she waded in the warm waters – they were Sarah's private thoughts and answers to some of her most troublesome questions and only for _her_ to know. He suddenly looked up and said to his father, "I have some business to discuss with King Tor of the Dwarves regarding the outlying goblin colonies. Excuse me, Father. Sister."

After the King of the Goblins had disappeared from sight, Saga approached her father, "She wishes to meet you."

Wotan raised his eyebrows in a manner similar to his son, "Why would she want to do that, Daughter?"

"She wants to talk with you about what she saw in the Pool, Father," Saga explained to her father without explaining anything at all.

The High King nodded, "Very well. It will no doubt prove to be more interesting than reading these reports for the next hour before supper is served." He rose and kissed his daughter on the cheek as he had since she had been a little girl, "Please make sure the others are having no trouble with their rooms and such."

"Yes, Father," Saga said. Most would have probably thought it a slight that he was asking her to check on the rooms of their guests, but it was something Saga had done since she had been old enough to understand. She didn't mind the work – and it let her know who had arrived and who was late for the annual week of High Court.

* * *

A/N: For all those wondering, Wotan is the Old Norse version of the name Oden, who was the husband of Frigg and king of the Norse gods before Thor took his place. Saga was the Norse goddess of poetry, and you can look all of the others up on behindthename (dot) com or any good mythology site. The names of Sarah's maids are not specifically any gods or goddesses that I know of, but I could be wrong. 


	3. History Lesson

A/N: This is for those of you (mainly the kind ones who left reviews) who are reading this.

* * *

"I can see why my son is so taken with you." 

Sarah gasped as she quickly turned from where she was inspecting a painting that hung over Jareth's fireplace. She had just finished changing into a sleeveless midnight blue gown that fell to her feet. The collar was oval, revealing but not overly so; and there was a white gold cord tied loosely around her waist that accentuated her feminine curves nicely. Keeping her rebellious hair away from her face was a similar cord. In short, she looked like a goddess.

As she realized who it was exactly in front of her, she bowed slightly, "I didn't expect you so soon. Saga told me that she had shielded these rooms from transportation spells."

Wotan nodded, his lanky form relaxed against the bedpost, "They are. It just so happens that she excluded herself, my wife and myself from being subject to that spell. You needn't worry about being interrupted during a bath, my dear. My son may be pig headed but he isn't stupid."

"Which son?" Sarah asked after a moment of silence during which she digested his words. She found it quite odd that he had used the singular form of the noun twice now when it was _two_ of his sons that were trying to court her.

"Jareth, of course," Wotan replied, summoning up a light blue crystal which he proceeded to play with as he continued to speak, "Andvari is still quite rash when it comes to the fairer sex. He has a tendency to become extremely jealous regarding the things his brother has that he wants."

A flush spread across Sarah's face and neck, disappearing under the soft fabric of her gown as the implication hit her. In a sudden need to change the subject she asked, "Who painted this?"

A smirk formed on Wotan's face as he asked, "Do you like it?"

The picture was of the Pool of Sight, a woman standing inside of it, presumably seeing her future as a white owl watched from its perch on the tree that gave shade to the Pool's deep waters. Sarah could tell that whomever had painted the scene had done so with much love and devotion to detail that she could have gotten lost in it – as she nearly had when Wotan had arrived.

"Very much so," she finally whispered.

"It was a gift to Jareth from your mother. She painted it right after returning from the Aboveground," Wotan's voice was soft and musical – so similar to the Goblin King's that it sent a small shiver down her spine.

Sarah glanced back at it, now able to detect her mother's unique brush strokes moving the paint to do her bidding. Her mother had been a great artist Aboveground – that was how she had met Sarah's father and fallen in love with him.

"I have a gift for you," Wotan said suddenly after the silence had stretched out long enough in his mind. He held out the crystal ball toward the half-Fae. At her cautious look he smirked and said, "Don't worry, my dear, I'm not offering you your dreams. Just a token of nobility that befits your station here."

Sarah took the crystal from the High King's hand, causing it to burst and become the most beautiful ring Sarah had ever seen: a white gold band supported what looked like a dragon shaped like a semi-circle, molding into a crescent moon on the other half of the circle. In the center of the design lay a small crystal as blue as the one Wotan had summoned to do his bidding.

"It's beautiful," Sarah whispered as Wotan slipped it onto the middle finger of her right hand. It was also a perfect fit. "What does it mean?"

Wotan caught her green hazel eyes with his own baby blues before he spoke: "The dragon and moon are the crest of the High King. You will find that all servants wear it on their tunics; the crystal in the center is a mark that you are high royalty."

"But-"

"It doesn't matter that you have not chosen which son of mine to marry. Your mother's blood is royal, and it flows through your veins. You saw in the Pool whom to choose and it is one of my sons, is it not?" Sarah blushed and nodded; her eyes adverted from the High King's in embarrassment. "There is no need for embarrassment, my dear. In my thousands of years I have witnessed much more embarrassing moments."

"How old _are _you?" Sarah asked the High King next as they sat on the chairs positioned to the right of the fireplace.

Wotan chuckled, "I am exactly twelve thousand seven hundred and _five_ years old. My darling wife is less than a hundred years younger."

"And Jareth and Andvari?"

"They were born a little over two hours apart – with Jareth being first, making him the Crown High Prince. They are approaching their three thousandth birthday in the summer."

"Oh." What more could she say? It was shocking enough to find out she was trying to decide between two men whom had seen Leonardo de Vinci paint his masterpieces, she couldn't think of anything else to say.

Wotan chuckled again, "Age is of little importance to the Fae. As long as those we chose to entrust our hearts to are above the age of consent, that is. Jareth was foolish to try to keep you here when you were still so young."

Sarah thought to what she had seen in the Pool and sighed with a nod, "I was a fool not to see what he was trying to tell me."

Wotan shook his head, "No, child, you were far too young to understand what he was offering you."

A thought crept into Sarah's mind that she couldn't dispel, "Your majesty?"

"When we are in private I would prefer if you referred to me as Wotan … and maybe one day Father," the king said softly interrupting her question.

A delicate blush crept over Sarah's features again as she took in the implication of his words. He seemed to her the kind of man that took formality very seriously. That he would even consider letting her call him by his first name …

"My apologies, your – Wotan. But, I do not understand: If they are both High Princes then why was Andvari in the Aboveground and Jareth King of the Goblins?" she finally voiced her inquiry.

Wotan's grin reminded Sarah of Jareth tremendously as he said, "A bet." Sarah furrowed her brow and Wotan continued, "My sons have always been competitive – ever since the day they were born. Throughout their childhood they've always made foolish bets about various things – straight from whose horse could run faster to whom could obtain a kiss from one princess or another first."

He sighed and gained a far away look in his eyes as he continued, "They've broken the hearts of many young Fae that way. The goblins have always been an unruly sort of race. Fae have tried time and again to rule over them and failed. Raiders from other kingdoms often found sport in the outlaying goblin villages.

"On their two thousand six hundredth birthday Andvari baited Jareth and made a bet that he could live two hundred years on the Aboveground without his magic while Jareth couldn't last that long ruling the goblins. Jareth had fumed and then claimed that he could rule the goblins for four hundred years as opposed to the two hundred Andvari claimed he couldn't make." The king sighed again, "I found out and made them carry out their bet. They have both returned once a year for the weeklong session of High Court."

"So the Labyrinth wasn't there before Jareth took control of the goblins?" Sarah asked intrigued with the information being presented to her.

Wotan shook his head, "No, my dear, the goblins were quite disorganized. It took Jareth one hundred years to complete the Labyrinth and organize the goblin army and another fifty to reorganize their economy. Before you bested him nearly six years ago no one had managed to get through that maze without his permission or being a denizen.

"I've never seen him so affected by … _anything_ before."

A hesitant knock sounded from the door. "Enter," Wotan said authoritatively.

A feminine head poked through the doorway, clearly uncomfortable in her surroundings, "Your highness," she said with a curtsey as she came fully into the room. "Your majesty, I was sent to inform you that the evening meal is ready and the preparations in the grand ballroom have been completed for tomorrow night's festivities."

Wotan nodded once and the girl disappeared back through the door. He rose from his seat. Turning to Sarah he said, "You will not be required to attend the evening meal – we'll have something brought here for you. But tomorrow evening is the ball that commemorates the beginning of High Court; I believe it would be best if you were to make your presence known to all at that time."

He turned to leave and stopped as he neared the door, "A few servants will be by later to collect your measurements for a gown and with your meal. They will be yours until your stay with us has ended."

"Thank you," Sarah said softly as the High King left and she was once again alone in the regal rooms that belonged to her once-nemesis and enemy. "But no more," she whispered, idly stroking the ring that now adorned her right hand. "No more."

---

After she had eaten and had her measurements taken by one of the three servants assigned to her (she was pretty sure they were dwarves due to height and how similar to Hoggle they all looked) Sarah asked them, "Are there any good places to take a walk around here? A library or garden, maybe?"

They all looked at each other hesitantly before one of them, Eluned, answered, "There are a number of libraries throughout the palace, my lady, as are there a number of gardens. High King Wotan has informed us to take you wherever you wish to go. Perhaps if you would narrow down where that is?"

Enid, one of the other maids, piped up, "There is a lovely rock garden that is new to the palace grounds. Perhaps my lady would enjoy walking there?"

Sarah nodded, "Thank you, Enid. That sounds perfect." When all three of the maids made to follow her from the room Sarah added, "I only need one of you to show me the way. If there are other things to do you don't have to come."

"My lady, we are here only to serve you and keep you safe – High King Wotan would be none too pleased if we were lack in our duties," Eluned said with a smile. She liked this half-Fae: Sarah wasn't as aloof as the other Fae nobility, and she didn't let the fact that she had beaten the Labyrinth go to her head.

"This way," Enid said as she led the way through the halls toward the rock garden. The other two hand maids walking beside their charge.

The third and youngest maid, Epona, kept on glancing at Sarah. Finally the woman said, "What is it?"

Epona blushed and looked down, "I-is it true that you beat High Prince Jareth's Labyrinth in under thirteen hours?"

Sarah smirked, "I'm not actually sure I had a whole thirteen hours – and I did have a bit of help getting to the end."

"But you're the same Sarah?"

"Yes, Epona, I'm the same Sarah."

All three dwarves eyes were wide as they approached the rock garden to find it occupied with a big beast like creature and a Fae.

"Ludo!" Sarah said with a grin, causing the beast to look up.

"Sawah, back!" he said, walking over to give the woman a hug. "Ludo miss Sawah."

"I missed you, too, Ludo," Sarah said as he set her down. "Did you make this garden?"

The beast contemplated her question for a moment before he answered: "Yes."

Sarah smiled warmly at the beast, "It's beautiful."

"Sawah beautiful," Ludo replied. "Sawah meet Naamah?"

At the sound of the name of the other woman, Sarah turned and found herself face-to-face with a woman straight from her childhood movies and pictures: Her mother. She gasped softly as her mother's piercing green eyes sized her up.

"Hello, Mother," she finally whispered to the Elvin Queen standing before her.

Naamah smiled, pleased that her mortal husband hadn't blocked their daughter's memories of her, "You've grown up so beautifully, Sarah."

A tinge of anger swept down Sarah's spine, "No thanks to you," she said, her eyes cold as she decidedly chose _not_ to care about the shock illustrated on her mother's beautiful features. "Tell me, how long did you debate coming back here and having your powers given back to you over your own daughter? Did it take you all of a minute? Or did you wait a full hour before deciding to leave?"

The harsh words cut deep into Naamah's heart, but she couldn't deny them. Sarah had every right to be angry with her for leaving. "I was hardly given a choice, Sarah," she whispered in reply.

"And yet you didn't find a way to bring me with you," Sarah replied, refusing to let the unshed tears mar her vision. "I grew up for _ten years_ without a mother. You can't justify that no matter how hard you try. The ends do _not_ justify the means."

Naamah hadn't felt hurt like what her daughter was making her feel in ages - lifetimes perhaps. Yes, that was it, lifetimes. She rose to her full height in an effort to keep her emotions at bay. The glint of a ring on Sarah's finger caught Naamah's eye and she took in a sharp breath. "It seems the High King has taken to adopting you, my daughter," she said with unknown emotion.

Sarah glanced down at her hand before replying; "The High King has been generous and kind to me in an unfamiliar place that I should have known for years." She turned to her three maids and said, "I believe one of you said something about a library?"

Enid and Epona looked at each other in confusion, afraid for speaking lest they would say the wrong thing. It was Eluned that replied after glaring at the younger two, "Yes, my lady, High Queen Frigg is quite fond of the Aboveground playwrights and has a vast library I'm sure you would enjoy. This way."

Sarah gave Ludo a loving and soft look, "Goodbye, Ludo. I'll see you soon."

"Goodbye, Sawah," he replied sadly.

Without so much as a glance at her mother, Sarah turned and followed Eluned away from the rock garden and back toward the palace.

---

Andvari felt a vibration in the air around him and conjured up one of his crystals, "Sarah," he commanded quietly. The crystal showed him the confrontation in the rock garden. He paid very close attention to the reactions of all involved, especially that Elvin Queen, Naamah. They had been lovers once … before her exile to Aboveground. Perhaps she would help him win her daughter's heart.

He winced as he watched the scene unfold and had to admit it probably wasn't such a good idea but it was the only one he could think of. He had already courted the bloody girl in the Aboveground and she had already bloody well accepted his question of marriage! What more did they expect from him?

He growled under his breath as he examined Sarah's three maids, trying to decide which one would be easiest to sway. Not Eluned, of course, that old dwarf was far too keen about such things to listen to him … but maybe Enid … yes, that maid would fit quite nicely into his little scheme.

* * *

A/N: So? Don't worry, Andvari won't get too into his plan before all goes to hell in a handbasket for him. ...But I would like to know your opinion on whether or not I should introduce Loki (old or less old is up to you as well) in this story as the more central bad guy/trickster? Please respond in the form of a review.

Oh, and for all of you who might think that Sarah acted a bit too harshly, I grew up without my dad for the majority of my childhood (his choice to leave) and even though I thought I had gotten over it, I still hold a lot of resentment toward him for leaving. Sarah's response was what it should be after learning that her mother didn't die, but chose to leave her.


	4. Not What They Seem

A/N: Sorry this chapter is a little shorter than normal, but the next one should be up next week. Oh, and we find out about what Sarah saw in the Pool in this one! And just for clarification, I'm just playing with thte mythology characters, I'm not going to be encluding lots of mythology - just some of the movers and shakers.

* * *

After reading a few plays by the great playwrights throughout history, Sarah decided to call it a night and had Epona escort her back to Jar- no, _her_ rooms. As she lay in bed that night, having given her maids the rest of the evening off, Sarah lay awake thinking about all that had happened that day.

The sheets on Jareth's bed were something softer than satin and darker than the night sky. And they held the lingering yet incredibly strong sent of _him_. It was akin to being wrapped in his arms – his feel covered her from head to toe, enveloping her in a sense of protection and warmth. The only thing that could make it better would be if …

She shook her head determinedly, resolved not to think about such things as a naked Goblin King pressed into her … _Stop it!_ she ordered her mind with a glare. She wasn't supposed to be thinking about him! She was supposed to be in love with Pau-Andvari. _He_ was her fiancé.

Her mind went back to what she had seen in the Pool and she was caught up in the memory of how different the water's recollection of her trip through the Labyrinth was from her own. The waters had shown her a Jareth so confused by unfamiliar emotions that he could do nothing but play the game as he always had. They had shown her a peach made out of yearning desire and love rather than a need to win and keep her there … A passionate man who was offering all of himself to a young woman in the midst of becoming an adult but not fully there.

A man so in love with her that he was willing to let her leave his kingdom with his heart thinking that he would never see her again.

What the waters had shown her after a different view of her first encounter with Jareth and his Labyrinth, was quite surprising and not a little disconcerting:

_Jareth silently fumed in his seat in the shadows of the grand ballroom as he watched his peers twirl and laugh the night away. By all rights he should have been up among them and not sitting where he was, mourning the loss of a girl whose smile had made his subjects forget his commands … whose eyes still haunted him when he slept._

"_Still angry a mortal girl beat your game, brother?" Andvari said as he sat next to his older twin. He motioned for a servant to bring him another glass of wine. "She was only a human girl, Jareth. That must sting."_

_Jareth's cold eyes glared at his brother who was basking in the glow of Jareth's defeat. "You didn't meet her, Andvari," he replied, "She was more than a mere human girl. There was an untapped and untrained magic in her. Fae magic."_

By all rights and purposes Sarah should have felt awful, watching their private conversation like that … but the waters seemed to reassure her that their words held just as much importance to her as they did to the brothers that spoken them.

_Andvari raised his eyebrows, "Naamah's half-Fae child that she left in the Aboveground? You certainly know how to choose them, brother of mine."_

"_I didn't choose her," Jareth hissed quietly, "And if you met her you wouldn't be so quick to point out my errors. _Brother_," the last word was spat with as much venom the Goblin King could muster. He smiled sinisterly, "That is, if you can get past her new entourage of magical beasts and self-appointed protectors and guardians."_

_Andvari laughed at that, "Is that a challenge, Jareth?" The Goblin King didn't respond so his brother just continued, "Very well, I accept. Before our three thousandth birthday I will tame the half-breed that bested you at your own game."_

_It was with that mocking laughter and harsh words that the Pool had gone dark, leaving Sarah gasping for breath with a horrified look on her face._

Slowly, feeling her tired limbs protest the movement after she had already laid down for the night, Sarah arose again, put on a dressing robe and walked determinedly toward the full length mirror a few strides away.

"Hoggle, I need you," she whispered quietly, hoping it would work.

"Sarah?" the dwarf asked, "What are you doin' in _'is_ chambers?"

"I need you, Hoggle," Sarah refused to address his question at the moment, "Can you come through?"

"Aye," Hoggle replied, "It ain't 'ard t' travel t' Ida. Hold on, missy." Soon Hoggle was through the mirror. "See?" he said, brushing himself off, "Not 'ard at all."

Tears filled Sarah's eyes to the brink and when the dwarf saw them he frowned, "What's wrong, Sarah?"

"Oh, Hoggle!" she sobbed as she hugged him with all her might. As she felt his short arms wrap around her comfortingly, she couldn't hold back her tears any longer.

"Now, Sarah," he said when she had gotten her emotions under control, "Why are you in Ida? I thought you was happy in the Aboveground?"

Sarah sniffled as they sat down on the settee in front of the fireplace. "I thought I was," she finally whispered. "But then … Saga came and showed me that I wasn't."

Hoggle's eyes went wide at the mention of the seer's name. In awe he whispered, "The High Seer came t' get you?"

Sarah nodded and explained to him all that had happened since she had been in the Underground last. When she was done she looked at him as if expecting his judgment on the situation and opinion on which brother she should choose.

He looked toward the fireplace, empty of all but ash as he added quietly, "This be more serious then I thought."

"What are you talking about, Hoggle?" Sarah asked, his statement sounding mighty curious to her ears.

Hoggle shook his head, "Nay, I'll not be the one tellin' you. I like me head just where it is, thanks all the same."

Sarah sighed in frustration, "Fine then. But how am I supposed to choose? I already said yes to Andvari!"

Hoggle gave her a look that reminded her of the one he had given her all those years before when he had told her she wasn't looking hard enough. "Listen to yer heart, missy. It's the only guide you'll be gettin'."

Sarah sighed again and nodded, "Okay. Thanks for listening, Hoggle."

He smiled back at her as she got under the covers, "Should you be needin' me again…"

"I'll call." After she said those words she fell into a fitful sleep that helped greatly to clear her mind.

---

Early the next morning Eluned came to wake Sarah while Enid drew her bath and Epona set out her breakfast. "Thank you," the princess sighed as she relaxed in the milky waters of the tub.

"It is our pleasure to serve," Eluned replied with a curtsy.

"Don't you ever get tired of serving?" Sarah asked after a few minutes when Enid brought her some fruit to eat as she bathed. For a few moments she had been nervous about bathing with three others in the same room, but soon those feelings subsided as the dwarves looked away while she submerged her naked body into the tub.

Epona frowned, "It is our duty. We live by serving, how could we get tired of living?"

"I get tired of living sometimes. That's partly why I called to the goblins all those years ago. I was just plain tired."

Eluned smiled and patted Sarah's hand, "I chose to serve when I was a young dwarf – as did my brother. It's not without its … perks, my lady."

"What's your brother's name?" Sarah asked as she washed her hair.

"Hoggle," Eluned replied with a small grin. "He's always been fond of you. Don't know how you did it, though."

"Did what?"

"Made him forget he was a coward."

Sarah just giggled and went about washing the rest of her body while her three handmaids did the things that needed to be done throughout the room.

As Sarah was getting dressed with the help of the surprisingly nimble fingers of Eluned and Enid, a knock sounded on the door.

"Can you get that, Epona?" Sarah asked as she stood as still as possible while the ties on the back of her crimson bodice were tied quite tightly.

"Yes, my lady," Epona said as she moved to open the door. "High Seer," she said reverently to the woman on the other side of the door. She opened it further to allow Saga access to the room inside.

"Epona," Saga said with her rich, musical voice. "I'm glad to see you've gotten over your fall from last week. Sarah, I must speak with you."

There was a tingle of something in the back of Sarah's mind as she listened to Saga talk. "What is it, Saga?" she asked, still trying to figure out what the feeling was.

"I was hoping that you would enjoy a walk today to look at the rose gardens," the Fae told her.

Ahah! Sarah finally found the source of her nagging in her mind and pulled on it: Hard.

When Jareth appeared in a shower of glitter Sarah frowned in confusion at him, "I thought you couldn't transport yourself into these rooms?"

Jareth gave her a sidelong look, "I didn't. I was pulled in. By you, I assume."

Sarah's frown intensified as she continued to think on the issue of her pulling him through the shield that made it impossible for him to transport himself in.

"Just as it seems that you have invited in Andvari, thus making the spell ineffective," Jareth commented, tilting his head to where Saga stood.

"Saga" rolled "her" eyes and waved a hand, transforming back to Andvari. He glared at Jareth menacingly without saying a word.

"Are you telling me that people can change who they look like through magic?" Sarah asked, now petrified that she wouldn't know who she was really talking to when she spoke to anyone with magic.

Jareth gave her a sympathetic look, "It requires much concentration, skill and power." He glared at his brother, "And it has been forbidden for nearly five thousand years!"

"Forbidden in name only," Andvari shot back at his brother, "It has been practiced quietly ever since it was outlawed."

"Never by a member of the royal family," a voice said coolly from the doorway. The three of them turned to find Frigg standing in the doorway, looking as majestic as her station proclaimed, and nothing like the kind old woman Sarah had met in the garden.

She stepped into the room with a mask of stone in place on her features, causing Sarah to briefly wonder if all Fae learned how to school their features in such a manner. "Andvari, forbidden means forbidden. By openly practicing the forbidden art you have opened us up to the ridicule of our enemies and potential attack." Her eyes flared in anger as she waved a hand, "Go away, you are now subject to your father's ruling." Andvari vanished without a sound, forced into submission by his mother and High Queen.

"Jareth, I believe you have duties to attend to," Frigg told her second son, effectively dismissing him. "Sarah," Frigg turned her attention to the remaining Fae in the room, "I came to ask you to join the High King and myself for the morning meal."

The woman nodded mutely and followed the High Queen out of her bedchamber soon after.

* * *

A/N: So? Don't worry, for all those wanting drama, Loki comes in soon and Andvari isn't gone for good right now. Siblings still have their rivalry. 


	5. Lay Claim

A/N: Once again, so sorry this took so long to get up, but this chapter was murder to write! Not to mention that real life has been just a real ... meany butt right now. I hope you like it. Like I said before: I'm not following exactly what Norse mythology says happens (obviously), I'm just playing with some of the main characters.

* * *

Breakfast with the High King and Queen was a rather simple affair, without any of the nuances that plagued the meals taken in full court. As the meal was coming to a close, Wotan nodded to a servant standing near a door to his right, "Fionn will school you in the basic etiquettes you'll need to be familiar with for the festivities tonight. Listen to him carefully and learn well, my dear." Wotan's tone was hard and offered no room for argument, however, Sarah thought she could detect a hint of mirth hidden in his eyes at the prospect of her debut to the court that evening.

She just nodded silently, however, and followed the male Elf from the room. Whatever was to come next would obviously require all of her attention.

"Have you made your choice, Princess Sarah?" Fionn asked shortly after he had finished instructing her in meal etiquette and effectively ruined her appetite for all formal court affairs.

"About what?" Sarah asked, afraid she had zoned out and hadn't heard his question and now he was going to make her feel like a fool.

Fionn's mouth quirked into a small smile as if he could read her thoughts. Sarah wouldn't put it past him. "Prince Jareth or Prince Andvari? One of them will be required to escort you tonight and I need to inform their menservants as to which one."

Sarah didn't know whether to feel relieved or frightened that she would have to choose so quickly. She furrowed her brow as she closed her eyes and imagined herself dancing with Andvari. The frown that marred her face quickly turned to a scowl when she realized that she couldn't see herself dancing with the younger twin; whenever she tried, his face and body always changed into Jareth.

"Jareth, I suppose," Sarah said irritation clear in her voice as she looked at her etiquette teacher. His eyes twinkled knowingly at her.

"Very well then, your highness. Shall I summon him to begin your dance lessons?" Fionn asked, his face the perfection of innocence.

"What?" Sarah asked, her eyes wide in shock. She had naturally assumed that Fionn was going to teach her the basic steps to the dances.

"You're dance lessons," the old Elf repeated, his smile growing a little wider. "It is not proper for a princess to learn to dance from a servant. It's how it's done."

She growled low in her throat, "_Fine_. Do what must be done."

Moments later, Jareth appeared in his full Goblin King regalia. He smirked, his eyes dancing with mischief and humor, "You rang, Princess?"

Her stomach fluttered at the tone of his voice, and unconsciously her cheeks reddened. Inwardly, Jareth cheered at the sight before him as she responded, "Apparently you have to teach me to dance."

His eyebrows raised, "You've chosen your escort, then?"

She glared, half-heartedly at him, "Would you be here if I hadn't?"

Fionn cleared his throat, bringing attention back to himself and off the nervous couple. "Shall we begin, your highnesses?"

"Ah, yes," Jareth said, his smirk still firmly in place. "Do you know the basic waltz, my dear?"

Sarah rolled her eyes, "Of course, I know how to _Aboveground_ waltz. That doesn't mean jack shit here, now does it?"

Jareth's eyebrows raised even higher, "My dear you must watch your language. Especially when others can hear you. Now, let us begin."

---

After Sarah's lessons were finished, an hour before dinner was scheduled to begin, Jareth asked her to join him on a walk around his childhood home.

"What are you thinking?" he asked as they meandered through the peach orchard.

Sarah sighed again as she turned to him, "About what the Pool showed me. I expected it to give me reason to choose both you and Andvari."

He raised his eyebrows, "It did not?"

She shook her head, "It was quite biased toward one particular brother." Her eyes met his, "Now why, do you think, would that be?" Her hand moved from her side as they stopped walking, reaching up, as if of it's own accord, to stroke his cheek gently.

He hissed through his teeth, her touch doing things to his body that a touch should _not_ be allowed to do. "You play with fire, Princess."

"Yet, you make no move to stop me, High Prince." He wasn't sure how she managed to do it, but the way she said his title was a loving caress as well as a hint of mocking.

"What did the Pool show you?" he asked her, one of his gloved hands coming up to still her own.

"You," she whispered back before tearing her hand from his and rushing away. He rolled his eyes and followed in hot pursuit, a game he hadn't played in centuries.

The Pool wasn't supposed to show a partiality toward any choice that could be made. That it had shown Sarah Jareth in a favorable light, and Andvari in a poor light was … odd. _Not as odd as you might think, my king_, a whispery, magical voice said in Jareth's mind as he caught up with Sarah and pulled her laughing form into his arms for a kiss. _I have, after all, done the same thing._

"This is very interesting, indeed," Jareth said as he pulled back from the passionate kiss. "But, really, Sarah, you only have half an hour to get ready for dinner. Whatever shall you do?"

Her eyes widened, causing him to laugh, conjure a crystal and toss it at her. She glared at him as she looked down and found herself dressed in the gown Eluned had made for the meal.

"I won't even justify that with a response," Sarah said with narrowed eyes. "Now, kindly escort me to the dining hall."

Jareth bowed extravagantly, hiding the thoughts that the Labyrinth's words had evoked within him behind a laughing mask, "As you wish, fair maiden."

"You sound like Sir Didymus when you say that."

If either of them had bothered to look at the ring on Sarah's finger, they would have seen the crystal changing from Wotan's blue to Jareth's clear.

---

Naamah sighed as she regarded her royal appearance in the full-length mirror. Her hair had been dark when she was Aboveground, but here below it was as light as honey. Her gown was the deep green her husband preferred to see her in, the royal crest befitting her station lay around her throat, the only jewelry she wore, and on her feet were the sandals preferred by the elves she co-ruled over.

It wasn't enough. The more she looked at herself, the more she could see what her daughter saw: a selfish woman who had abandoned her only child. She didn't want to be that woman. She had returned to the Underground to keep Sarah safe! Why couldn't she see that?

"You're looking lovely, as usual," a voice said from Naamah's right.

She turned to look at the intruder, "What do you want, Loki?"

"What you promised me, Naamah: your firstborn."

Naamah's eyes were wide with terror as the Trickster's grinning face disappeared from her room, moments before her husband arrived to escort her to dinner.

---

Dinner started out as a rather frightening affair for Sarah. She clung to Jareth's arm as they were announced and entered the sitting room where the royalty from all around the Underground would wait for dinner to be announced.

"High Prince Jareth of the Underground and the High Princess Sarah," the dwarf announce to the room.

Heads turned toward the staircase where Jareth and Sarah were walking down, into the throng of nobility. They complimented each other perfectly: he was in his midnight blue Goblin King garb and she in a gown that radiated like the noon day sun. Most were enthralled with this beauty the High Prince had found … but no one had heard of Jareth getting married to anyone. High Princess? Who _was_ this woman?

Unfortunately for Sarah, she had grown out of needing to be the center of attention all the time a few months after she had completed the Labyrinth. All the faces staring at her gave the distinct urge to run and hide behind Jareth and wait for the entire thing to be over and done with.

Jareth felt her unease and tightened his hand around hers for a brief second before they descended the rest of the way into the throng.

"Jareth!" a jovial voice greeted as a rather … _large_ man and a petite, golden haired woman approached Jareth and Sarah.

"Thor," Jareth said as the man lifted him a few inches off the ground. It was all Sarah could do not to laugh at the sight the embrace made. As it was, she was forced to look down and bite her lip to keep the smile at bay.

"So this is her, eh?" Thor asked his brother, giving him a suggestive look. "You, young lady, have caused quite a stir in the past few days." His wife elbowed him lightly, causing him to give her a half-hearted glare. "This is my wife, Sif."

Sif smiled warmly at the other woman, "I understand that soon we shall be sisters."

Sarah gave her a tentative smile in return, "That seems to be the High King's consensus."

Thor laughed heartily at that, "I like you already, Sarah. I hope you don't mind if I steal Jareth away for a while, do you?"

Sarah looked at the man in question with a tinge of fear - he was going to leave her _alone_ with these people? All she knew about them was what she'd read in Norse mythology.

"You'll be fine, Sarah. Sif won't let you wander off, will you, darling?" Thor told his soon-to-be sister-in-law.

Sif smiled warmly again, "Don't worry, Sarah." She shooed away her husband and brother-in-law, "Now go talk about whatever it is that concerns you both. Sarah and I will be fine."

Jareth nodded, patting Sarah's hand reassuringly, "Sif will make sure you don't get … overwhelmed, my dear." He turned his attention to his brother, "Shall we?"

---

"Did you know, brother mine, that Loki has a claim on your fiery half-Fae?" Thor asked his brother once they were out on the terrace, safe from prying eyes and unwanted ears.

Jareth's eyes narrowed, but that remained the only outward sign Thor had that his brother understood the nature of this revelation. "Not even Father would go against a claim."

"The only way to dissolve the claim is for him to give it up voluntarily … or for you to challenge him. And win," Thor reminded his brother.

"I have no fear that I will win any challenge put forth," Jareth told his brother, both grave and confident.

"How?" Thor shot back. "Loki is known for his trickery."

"Because the Labyrinth and the Pool have _both_ chosen her for me," he hissed back, his eyes hard with something the other king didn't like to see in his brother's eyes.

Thor nodded, "I just hope their support is enough for you to keep her, Jareth. There's a fire in her that would be very dangerous if Loki were ever to get a hold of it."

"I know." They turned and watched as their chosen mates for eternity laughed with each other as they waited for Thor and Jareth to return. "She will make a wonderful queen one day."

"Ay, that she will. Any woman who can turn a coward into a hero, beat your Labyrinth, and break one of those damn forgetting spells would make a _fine_ queen."

"Now all I need to do is make sure Sarah agrees and Loki knows that she's _mine_."

* * *

A/N: Okay, let me know: who was expecting _those_ revelations? Not sure when the next chapter will be up, but I'll try to do it soon. 


	6. Revelations

A/N: Okay, I got this up sooner than expected ... but I guess that's what happens when I have a research paper due on Monday for my English class!

Oh, and I must ask **nubantu: **Are you just offering so that you can see the chapters before anyone else? Nice try with that, by the way.

* * *

During dinner, Sarah sat between Jareth and Saga; it was a blatant message on Wotan and Frigg's part to all the others present as to their chosen future for the half-Fae daughter of the Elvin Queen. Across from them sat Thor, Sif, and Balder. Throughout the fourteen course meal (Jareth had commented to her on the walk there that he found Court dinners an utter waste of time and resources) Thor entertained Sarah with stories of Jareth's childhood antics, while the man in question piped in every few minutes to refute one of the finer points in Thor's many stories.

"And then there was the time he joined forces with Loki and the two of them managed to steal the golden apples and hid them in Valhalla," Thor said with a grin. "It took Idun three months to get them back. In the end Brunhilde gave them back to her when she found them hidden with the saddle bags."

"She was quite put out with the two of them and even refused to give Loki an apple for the next century," Sif added before she took another bite of the roast chicken. "Are these chickens some of yours, Jareth?"

He nodded, "Ay. That's twenty more I don't have to worry about decimating my castle."

"I still don't know why you keep those things around, brother," Balder commented, "All they do is make a mess of things."

"The goblins enjoy playing with them," Jareth answered. "Takes them off my hands for a few hours every day or so."

"You could try teaching them to act like a proper army," Sarah commented softly. "Especially after that debacle eight years ago."

Jareth raised an eyebrow at her, "I'll have you know that I've been working quite hard at getting them in working order. It's not as easy as it sounds, either, my dear: they have attention spans of fifteen minutes."

Before their conversation could continue, Wotan rose from his seat, indicating the end of the meal. Everyone else rose shortly after the High King, and followed him and the High Queen into the ballroom to commence the beginning of the week long High Court.

---

The ballroom was immense and grand. They were the only words Sarah could find in her vocabulary that fit the ballroom. Immense and grand. The ceilings were high above their heads, with chandeliers dangling down from them. It was with a gasp that Sarah realized that it was this crystal ballroom that she had danced within during her time in the Labyrinth. It was the same ballroom Jareth had sung to her in eight years before.

She turned to him, and in answer to her unspoken question he whispered in her ear, "No, darling, it's not the same room. Yours was an illusion of this one. It was the best I could come up with to fit your style."

She sniffed, "Tell me next time. And don't go running off anywhere! I expect a dance first."

Jareth bowed, "Shall we?" He held out his hand, waiting for Sarah to take it, which she readily did as the music began to play and other couples took their places around the dance floor.

Naamah watched her daughter dance happily with the High Prince from one end of the room. Sarah looked so happy there, in the arms of the Goblin King. What would become of her when she learned that she belonged to another? What would Sarah do when she found out it was her own mother that had forfeited her freedom?

Too many questions and too few answers.

When Jareth led Sarah off the dance floor some minutes later, Naamah saw her chance to explain things to Sarah, and rushed to catch her daughter before someone else decided to dance with her.

"Sarah, please, I need to speak with you," Naamah told her daughter, with a small curtsy to Jareth. "High Prince. I hope you don't mind me monopolizing my daughters time for the next few minutes."

Jareth had half a mind to protest the interruption, knowing full well that Loki would lay his claim before the High Court the next day. He looked into his childhood friend's eyes and saw the anxiety hidden deep within, and relented, "Of course not, Elvin Queen."

"Sarah, please," Naamah saw the emotion hidden in her daughter's eyes as she held out her hand for Sarah to take. "Walk with me."

After a long moment of indecision, Sarah finally acquiesced and took her mother's hand.

"Sarah, I need to tell you a story." The pair walked out onto one of the many balconies and Naamah spoke in hushed tones. "Try not to interrupt me until I am finished."

She took a deep breath to gather her nerve as she began to tell the tale that began centuries before. "When I was exiled to the Aboveground, it was a _very_ lenient punishment for the crime I committed: I was responsible for the death of a very magical being that was guarding a village of farmers. It was a complete accident on my part - I was just learning how to control my powers," tears came to Naamah's eyes, but she refused to let them fall.

She cleared her throat and tried to continue in a clear voice, "I didn't contest that I was guilty of the death of the dragon, and while I was waiting for the High Court to punish me, Loki paid me a visit. He's on the High Court - and was even then - and he offered me a deal: my life, for that of my first born child." The tears started flowing, unnoticed by the Elvin Queen as she continued, "I didn't expect to have children, Sarah. Most Fae never carry a pregnancy to term. Especially in the Aboveground."

Sarah frowned, unsure of how to respond. She was pale as she took in what her mother was telling her. "Why didn't Loki claim me before?" she finally voiced despite the turmoil taking place beneath her skin.

Naamah shook her head, "He couldn't claim you while you were in the Aboveground. If I had claimed you as my daughter and heir and taken you back with me … he would have you then, Sarah. I couldn't risk it. Despite what you may think of me, I do love you - I always have."

The other woman wasn't sure what to make of her mother's latest revelations. She didn't want to touch the topic of love right now. "What does this all mean, Mother?" she finally asked, needing to know how much time she had to spend with Jareth before Loki took her as his own. "What's going to happen now?"

Her mother took a deep breath, "Tonight is the ball. Loki will make his claim known to the rest of the High Court tomorrow. Your things will be transferred to rooms next to his … and if no one challenges his claim then you will be his until death releases you."

"What if someone challenges the claim?" She had to know if there was still hope that she could still do what her heart had yearned for since her first reading of her favorite, red leather bound book.

Naamah saw the question unspoken behind the one her daughter had voiced, and answered both with one answer: "If Jareth challenges the claim, there will be a week for the High Court to decide what the test shall be - and for Jareth to back out of his challenge. If he does not, then the High Court will send each man with one companion of his choosing to fulfill the test. Whichever of them completes their test first will take you as their own."

Sarah found it difficult to breath, even in the open night air that surrounded Frigg's palace. She stepped closer to the ledge of the balcony, holding on tightly to the railing and closing her eyes she took deep, calming breaths. She wanted to feel that wind beneath her, carrying her far into the distance, where nothing bad could reach her. The lyrics to _Somewhere Over the Rainbow _came back to her:

_Where troubles melt like lemon drops_

_Away, above the chimney tops_

_That's where you'll find me_

_Somewhere over the rainbow_

_Blue birds fly_

_Birds fly over the rainbow_

_Why then oh why can't I?_

She let her mind flow free, and there, hidden beneath mounds of other thoughts and emotions, she was able to touch her bird self. For a brief second she transformed, but because the effect was so brief, Naamah wasn't even sure she had seen it or if it had been a figment of her imagination.

"So I'm a slave then," Sarah whispered after long moments of silence. She turned to face her mother, "Either to Loki or Jareth; but I _am_ a slave. Because of you."

"No, Sarah," Jareth said from the doorway. "Not a slave. Never a slave."

He gave Naamah a glance, at which she quickly turned on her heel and left the couple alone.

"But I am not free," Sarah shot back as he came closer to her in the cool night air.

"No, after tomorrow you won't be free ever again." He cocked his head to one side, "So then, not a slave and not free … What shall you be, then, hmm?"

She could feel his breath, hot on her skin, and buried her head in his chest, letting out a shaky breath as she allowed his arms to envelope her in a blanket of warmth. "I would be yours," she whispered into his shirt. "Only yours."

"Then I will challenge Loki's claim."

Hours later, after the ball had been called to an end, Jareth and Sarah sat on the balcony connecting off his rooms. Her head rested on his shoulder as his arms were wrapped around her and they sat in silence watching the night pass over them.

"Do you know why I told Andvari I'd marry him?" Sarah finally broke the silence with the question she knew Jareth needed answered.

"Tell me."

She turned her head to face his and looked in his eyes, the mismatched pupils sending thrills down her spine, "He reminded me of you."

He leaned forward and did what he had wanted to do ever since she had captured his heart eight years before: he kissed her.

It swiftly turned into something more passionate than the kiss it had started out as. Soon he was guiding her backward toward the bed covered in satin sheets darker that the blackest night sky. Their lust for each other was too much for either to ignore, especially with the knowledge that soon she would have no choice but to be slave to Loki until Jareth completed the challenge.

Finally, in the early hours of the dawn, the couple found rest and sleep in each others arms.

---

The High Court consisted of the ruling elite of the Underground. High King Wotan presided over the proceedings with his High Queen at his side, as was her right. Jareth was there, as was his right as Goblin King: there was no queen at his side.

Naamah didn't care for the proceedings of High Court, and left her husband Elvin King Tyr to listen and voice the elves complaints in her stead.

Loki, as the ruler over the land known for its fire pits, and king of the giants residing there, was present. His Fire Queen choosing to keep watch over their lands at the time of High Court rather than accompany him to listen and voice the giants complaints.

Balder sat as King of Breidablik and the less powerful Fae who dwelt in those lands.

The whole of Aesir was present. Njord, King of the Merfolk, sat in attendance next to Freya, guardian of the human farmers, and Queen of Folkvang, under her care were the dwarves as well. Thor and Sif sat as King and Queen of Thrudheim along with the humans and other creatures wishing to remain under their care and safety. Idun sat alone without her husband at the far corner of the hall, choosing instead to keep silent during the proceedings until something of grave import to her kingdom of dryads, sprites and other forest creatures came up.

When the proceedings had started, Jareth stole himself for what he knew was about to come as Loki rose to speak.

"My fellow Kings and Queens," Loki started to speak, addressing the whole, while his gaze remained fixed on the High King, "A matter that was put in place centuries ago has come into play again: I lay claim on Queen Naamah of the Elves' first born - Sarah Williams."

* * *

A/N: Be honest now, how many of you thought something similar for Naamah's reason for leaving Sarah Aboveground? 


	7. High Court

A/N: So, so sorry this has taken so long to get up. RL is a bitch right now, end of the semester crap and all that. Anywho, I know this chapter goes over quite a bit of time rather quickly, but it was how it wanted to be written.

* * *

Sarah was reading in the garden, and listening to Epona playing a lap harp, as she tried to clear her mind of worry about what the High Court was doing. It was the middle of the afternoon and High Court had begun directly after the midday meal was finished. 

Her body tingled with the memories of what Jareth's mouth had done to it in the early morning hours, causing her to shiver despite the warm spring day.

She looked up suddenly as she felt a tingle of awareness pass through her body: she was being watched. Standing not far behind her were two soldiers wearing the crest of the High King. Sarah stood, as regal and graceful as any of the other princesses in the Underground.

"A claim has been made by King Loki," one of the soldiers told her, his voice serious and soft at the same time. "And a challenge has been issued by High Prince Jareth."

"You are to come with us, Princess Sarah," the second soldier said, his voice equally soft.

Sarah nodded once, and dismissed her maids before walking the few feet to stand before the soldiers. Less than a moment later they disappeared from view. The trio reappeared in the center of the court room that held the High Court. Sarah had to swallow the gasp that threatened to escape when she took in the grand thrones that encompassed the interior of the court room.

"Princess Sarah, daughter of the Elvin Queen," High King Wotan said, drawing attention to himself and away from the half-Fae in the center of the room, "A claim of ownership has been made by King Loki, regarding your person. In response to this claim the High Prince Jareth has issued a challenge."

His High Queen took over the narrative, "Your things will be moved to King Loki's rooms and for the next week you will be under his rule." Her voice was cold, but Sarah could see the hint of remorse that clouded her eyes. "Bound by your mother's words to obey. At the end of this year's session of High Court, tests will be issued to the claimer and the challenger. Whomever is the first to complete their challenge will be your master henceforth."

"You are bound by your mother's words to obey," Freya repeated the High Queen's words.

Sarah met Jareth's eyes for a brief second before she was transported to a new set of rooms. There were four doors connecting the sitting room she was in to other parts of the palace. When she tried them, only the three leading to the bathroom, dressing room, and an ordinate bedroom would open. She was positive the fourth led to the corridor.

Tears came to her eyes as she collapsed in a heap on the floor. She was a prisoner.

---

Sarah was not allowed to leave her rooms for the rest of the day. It seemed to her that Loki was paranoid that she'd find a way to circumvent the spells binding her to him and see Jareth. As she thought about the Goblin King her heart constricted: she missed him terribly, even if she'd seen him just the day before. The idea of going the whole week without him was killing her.

Her head rose purposefully from where it lay on the arm of the settee she was draped over. At least for this week she could have a little fun during her subjection to Loki. Frigg had told her that she was in Loki's rooms … briefly Sarah wondered if Loki was fond of hot, florescent pink and florescent green. She grinned mischievously as she figuratively rolled up her sleeves and set about grasping at her magic to redecorate the rooms. If she had to be miserable, then so did he!

---

Saga listened quietly as Naamah ranted about how she was a bad mother and how much Sarah must hate her. The seer knew that nothing she could say would change how Naamah felt, as irrational as it was. Only Sarah could help mend the broken relationship she had with her mother.

It had been six days of hell since Loki had claimed Sarah as his own, and every day his mood seemed to worsen. Whatever it was that Sarah was doing to him, Saga was pleased to see that it was working. Of course, he'd never revoke his claim willingly on Sarah - that would be admitting defeat … but he was becoming a monster to be around. His own servants were beginning to dread approaching him.

Matters were not helped at all by the fact that he still refused to let Sarah step one foot outside his chambers. She was effectively caged in both literally and figuratively.

Saga rose from the rocking chair she sat in. The pair was putting children down for their nap in the servant's nursery. She put the now sleeping babe into his crib and motioned for Naamah to follow her out of the room.

The Elvin Queen did as instructed and soon the duo was walking out of the palace and into the courtyard that held the Pool of Sight. Naamah had half a mind to question why Saga had not just transported them, but found that the walk had done her too much good to question the motives of her childhood friend.

The High Seer held out her hand for Naamah's, "The Pool will help ease at least some of your lingering doubts about Sarah."

Naamah took the offered hand and stepped into the warm waters with Saga by her side.

Her senses were assaulted with images of Sarah growing up. She only realized now how sad Sarah had been as a child. The only relief the girl had found was through magic and make believe. Jerome Williams had indulged their child as much as a mortal father could. He gave her everything she asked for (within reason), and now Naamah could see how much that had hurt her daughter. Her father could give her everything except her mother.

So Jerome had remarried, this time to a mortal woman named Susan Applegate. Suddenly Sarah was no longer the center of her father's world, but one of two women he loved dearly. For a girl who had grown up eleven years without anyone else to fight with over her father's affections, this was a dangerous time for Jerome to remarry.

Naamah felt her heart break again over the pain her child had gone through. More images assaulted her mind of Sarah becoming a big sister at the age of fourteen; Sarah running the Labyrinth less than a month before her sixteenth birthday; and then, the images stopped on one scene that had played out between Sarah and Jareth a week before:

_The couple sat on the balcony that looked out over the peach orchard, Sarah's head resting gently over Jareth's heart as they spoke in hushed tones. His arms kept her body close to his to keep the night chill at bay._

"_I think I understand why she left me Aboveground, but does that mean I have to like it?" Sarah asked him in a soft voice._

_He shook his head despite the fact that she wasn't looking at him. "Of course not," he replied. "You have every right to be upset that she left you."_

"_Just like you have every right to be upset that I left you all those years ago." She looked up at him, her eyes wide with remorse and unshed tears. "Like mother, like daughter, right?"_

_A tear escaped, trailing down her cheek wetly, causing Jareth to brush it away with his thumb. His eyes held a love that clenched at Naamah's heart. "There are many good things about your mother that you don't know about, Sarah."_

"_I hardly know anything about her, Jareth," she responded, her voice deflated and sad. "She's my mother and I don't even know what her favorite food is!" She chuckled harshly, "Hell, I'm in love with you and I don't even know what _your_ favorite food is."_

"_Dolmas," he replied instantly. "Especially the way the Greeks prepare them."_

_Sarah couldn't help but smile at the image of Jareth eating a grape leaf stuffed with lamb, rice, raisins, onion, and feta cheese._

"_She loves you," he said, switching abruptly back to the topic of her mother. "She loved you enough to leave you where you were safe."_

_Sarah looked back to the night sky, "I guess that's the problem. I keep on thinking she didn't love me enough to take me with her."_

By the time the Pool went blank, Naamah's face was covered with tears. She was happy that her daughter had found love with the High Prince, but so dismayed that Sarah couldn't see how much she was loved.

---

Sarah awoke eagerly on the seventh day of her captivity. Loki had tried to bed her that first night, only to learn that her powers were equally strong as his and that when she was frightened, she turned into a finch - and hid in a niche in the wall. It appeared that while she was in her avian form, he had very little power over her.

Since that first, failed attempt, he did not try to force her into his bed again.

Today, though, today would bring with it the revelation of the tests that Loki and Jareth would perform to see who won the challenge over her ownership. She shuddered at the thought that she was nothing more than an slave now. Of course, when she thought about it, she realized that her whole life she had been a slave to one thing or another; now Sarah was a slave to a man. Either Loki or Jareth would own her from this day forward.

She prayed to whatever god that was listening that she'd be able to live out her days in the cell of her own choosing: Jareth's.

Set out for Sarah to wear to High Court that day was a flowing dress of grey, modest and alluring at the same time as it was glittering and dim. Alongside the dress was a circlet of white gold, shaped as three cords intertwined to one.

Once she was dressed, Sarah had nothing to do but wait until the transportation spell took effect and she was sent to the High Court throne room.

Her face remained impassive as the spell removed her to the presence of the High Court and she appeared in a cubicle-esk space to the right of the High King and Queen. Standing in the center of the room were Jareth and Loki.

"High Prince Jareth," his father said, "You have challenged King Loki's claim on the Princess Sarah. Your test, for which you may choose one companion to complete it with you, is to go Aboveground and bring back to us the Lorelei."

"For this task, I ask that Laga accompany me," Jareth said in a monotone voice that didn't reveal any of his emotions raging inside at the sight of Sarah in _that_ dress. She looked like a goddess.

A moment later the Fae woman in question, with power over bodies of water, appeared next to her friend's son. "I accept the position of companion," she said in a strong, clear voice.

Wotan nodded at his long time friend in the manner required for the situation before turning to look at Loki. "King Loki, you have made a claim of ownership on the Princess Sarah. Your test, for which you may choose one companion to complete it with you, is to solve the Labyrinth and find your way out again. For this test, you will be stripped of your powers." The look that passed Loki's face was one of shock and outrage that the High Court would give him such a challenge.

His voice thick with barely contained rage, Loki said, "For this task, I ask that Prince Magni accompany me." After the son of Thor materialized and accepted the position, the four vanished, and soon after the rest of the court room emptied of its occupants, leaving Sarah alone with the High Queen.

Frigg offered her hand to Sarah and helped her step out of the square.

"What happens now?" Sarah asked her softly, her heart pounding in her ears.

"Now, we wait," Frigg answered. "Whomever completes their task first will essentially _own_ you."

A tinge of bitterness crept into her voice as Sarah replied, "Bound by my mother's words."

Frigg wisely refrained from commenting on Sarah's words but instead transported them to her private gardens where a group of Fae women waited.

"Gna, please pull up a chair for the Princess Sarah," Frigg ordered one of her handmaidens.

The pretty Fae bowed as she scurried to obey her mistress. Sarah smiled her thanks as she sat down with the group. Her mother sat close by, with Saga, Idun, and many more princesses and queens.

Naamah gave her daughter a warm smile meant to comfort and reassure, "Everything will be fine, Sarah."

"Don't make promises you can't keep, Mother," she replied, her eyebrows raised and her gaze fixed firmly on the cup of tea she held in her hands. "I've had enough of those."

"Sheppard's pie," Naamah said abruptly, causing Sarah to finally look at her, this time in confusion. "My favorite food - it's Sheppard's pie."

Sarah frowned, "How do you know about that?"

"The Pool," her mother replied. She gave her daughter an imploring look, "I know I can't give you back those years, Sarah, but I would be honored if you could find in your heart a little room for me."

Tears came to her eyes, but Sarah refused to let them fall. She nodded once but didn't trust herself to speak. Luckily she was saved having to when Freya approached and started enquiring different things from Sarah about her life Aboveground and her relationship with Jareth.

* * *

A/N: Brownie points if you can tell me how to end this damn thing. Just kidding, I already have a plan, but all your thoughts or anything that you would like to see before the end ... I'll take anything you've got.

Oh, and I'll dedicate the next chapter to you if you can share with the class what the Lorelei is.


	8. The Challenges

A/N: So sorry this has taken so long, but I had two courses that took more time this week (finals week) than I thought they would. On the bright side, I got seventeen reviews and one of them presented a very humourous parody of how this story should end. Go read it, then badger the reviewer (whom I will not name, but to whom this chapter is dedicated) to write the parody they have plotted out so wonderfully.

* * *

Loki and Magni were transported to the exact same hill overlooking the Labyrinth that Sarah (and all others who wished away children to the goblins) had stood upon eight years before. Loki growled in frustration, not liking for one bit that he would be unable to use his powers to change into a fowl and fly over the damn maze!

"Let's go then," Loki snapped at the other Fae before beginning to descend into the valley that held the legendary maze he was to solve.

He stopped dead in his tracks a few feet in front of the Labyrinth. There was the post the gate was supposed to be in … where was the gate? The post appeared as if Jareth had ordered the architects to tack it on anywhere and just not bother with the actually gate.

"How are we supposed to get in?" Magni asked the other, more powerful Fae.

Loki glanced back at him, "Couldn't you just … _make_ a door? You're strong enough for that, aren't you, Magni? At least, that's what all those Aboveground fairy stories say about you." The last part was a sneered challenge that made Magni bristle in contempt. He knew there was a reason he hadn't wanted to accept this position.

Magni walked up the wall and attempted to do as Loki requested and tear down a section to make their way through.

"What in bloody hell's name are you doin' to me wall!?!" a voice cried from their left. The two Fae turned to find a dwarf watching them with horror clearly etched into his aged features.

"Who are you?" Loki sneered at the little man.

"I'm _Hoggle_," he said, limping his way over to the outer wall of the Labyrinth to see if Magni had inflicted any damage. "Who are you?"

"I'm King Loki of the Fire Pits," the king said, drawing himself up to as much splendor as he could without his magic. He never realized until then how much he relied on it.

Hoggle snorted, "That's what I thought."

Loki bristled at the dwarf's insolence and set about planning his utter humiliation when he completed this challenge. "Do you have a better idea for getting into this Labyrinth, Hilda?"

He snorted again, "Hilda's me mum. An' of _course_ I got a better idea!"

The sounds of the fairies could be heard as they ate the flowers growing on the outer wall of the Labyrinth. Loki glared menacingly at Hoggle, but the dwarf was of the opinion that Loki needed to take glaring lessons from King Jareth.

"_Well_?" the Fae King finally spat out, frustrated by this lowly creature.

"Well what?" Hoggle asked, quite enjoying how enraged the pompous ass was getting.

"What's your grand idea?" Loki was quickly losing his patience.

"Grand idea for what?" Hoggle scowled as he picked up his fairy spray and started spraying the pests before he could eat all his blooms.

"For getting into this bloody Labyrinth!" Loki near shouted.

Hoggle stopped his extermination of the fairies and turned slowly to the two Fae men, "You could try the opening into the Labyrinth."

Loki growled in frustration.

---

Jareth and Laga rematerialized on the bank of the Rhine River in Strasbourg, France. Jareth sighed, not finding it fair in the least that he had to bring back the Lorelei - who was known for her alluring voice causing the deaths of many sailors on the Rhine - while Loki just had to solve the Labyrinth.

On second thought, though, Jareth grinned mischievously, he had designed his test to be very hard … and the denizens of the Labyrinth were not kind at all. It still befuddled him that Sarah had managed to bypass so much danger on her trip, and gain the allegiance of three of those denizens. His smile turned thoughtful as he realized he had set it up for her to bypass much of the danger. Loki would not be as favored in his trip.

"This way, Jareth," Laga told her friend's son. They had appeared in France dressed in modern, Aboveground clothing and appearance. If someone were to look in their direction, they would immediately want to look away and forget that they had even seen the duo.

Jareth looked in the direction she had pointed and saw the river Rhine in the distance. Swiftly the pair shifted to avian form and took off on the direction of the Lorelei Rock and dwelling of the Lorelei.

"_Ich weiß nicht, was soll es bedeuten,  
Daß ich so traurig bin;  
Ein Märchen aus alten Zeiten,  
Das kommt mir nicht aus dem Sinn. _

_Die Luft ist kühl, und es dunkelt,  
Und ruhig fließt der Rhein;  
Der Gipfel des Berges funkelt  
Im Abensonnenschein. _

_Die schönste Jungfrau sitzet  
Dort oben wunderbar,  
Ihr goldenes Geschmeide blitzet,  
Sie kämmt ihr goldenes Haar. _

_Sie kämmt es mit goldenem Kamme  
Und singt ein Lied dabei,  
Das hat eine wundersamme,  
Gewaltige Melodei. _

_Den Schiffer im kleinen Schiffe  
Ergreift es mit wildem Weh;  
Er schaut nicht die Felsenriffe,  
Er schaut nur in die Höh. _

_Ich glaube, die Wellen verschlingen  
Am Ende Schiffer und Kahn;  
Und das hat mit ihrem Singen  
die Lore-Lei getan."_

Her song of woe was heard long before Jareth's owl eyes could see the rock she dwelt upon. It was beautiful. Compelling him to beat his wings faster and draw close to see the beautiful spirit that sang the song of woe.

Because of his Fae spirit, Jareth heard the song in the original German. But to those whose primary language is English, these are the words the Lorelei sang out into the night:

_I cannot tell why this imagined  
Sorrow has fallen on me  
The ghost of an unburied legend  
That will not let me be. _

_The air is cool, and twilight  
Flows from the quiet Rhine;  
A mountain alone in the high light  
Catches the faltering shire _

_One rosy peak half gleaming  
Reveals, enthroned in air,  
A goddess lost in dreaming  
Who combs her golden hair. _

_With a golden comb she is combing  
Her hair as she sings a song;  
Heard and reheard in the gloaming  
It hurries the night along. _

_The boatman has heard what has bound him  
In throes of a strange, wild love.  
He is blind to the reefs that surround him,  
Who sees but the vision above. _

_And lo, the wild waters are springing -  
The boat and the boatman are gone...  
Then silence. And this with her singing,_

_The Lorelei has done._

Laga plowed into Jareth's barn owl in a move that sent them both spiraling down to the waters below. Jareth wasn't sure what was happening, at the moment he was just utterly maddened by the fact that he was going _away_ from the lovely singing and not toward it.

The last thing he remembered thinking before hitting the stone beneath him was that he hoped his mother and sister were taking good care of Sarah.

---

"Listen you little half-man," Loki said menacingly to Hoggle as he held the dwarf at face level by the shirt, "If you don't tell us how to get into the Labyrinth right _now_ I will make sure you suffer the most horrible death imaginable."

Hoggle gulped before pointing toward the wall, "You gets in, _there_." The gates opened and Loki dropped the dwarf like a brick. As soon as the pair was within the outer rim of the maze, Hoggle waived his hand and grunted as the gates closed back into the wall behind the two Fae.

Loki turned to look at his surroundings, not trusting Magni to choose the shortest path to the Castle. Of course, he couldn't see any of the opening in the wall because he had been stripped of his powers by the High Court.

That left trusting Magni to pick the right opening.

Loki wasn't so good at trusting others. Especially when his pride was at stake. He'd rather die in this bloody maze than admit defeat.

"If a mortal girl could do it in ten hours, surely we can do it in five," Loki growled.

"_Half_-mortal, and she had help," Magni reminded him. He had heard the story of Sarah's trip through the Labyrinth first hand from the knight, Sir Didymus, and it amazed him to this day that she had been able to turn three of his uncle's most loyal subjects.

Loki glared at him, and did the only thing he could think of: he put his hands to the inner wall and tried to _feel_ for an opening.

After hours of searching he finally fell through one. With a grin, the pompous, powerless Fae entered the shifting stone maze. Magni rolled his eyes, wondering silently why they couldn't have used one of the previous ten openings there had been, before obediently following the king.

---

Jareth woke to someone splashing water over his head. When he groaned and opened his eyes he found Laga standing above him with a bucket.

"You're wasting time, Jareth," she snapped at him. He squinted to see her in the sharp light of day. "The Lorelei sings every night after the sun sets to until the sun rises. We must reach her dwelling before then."

"Where are we?" Jareth asked groggily as he sat up. It had been night when they were flying before, and he didn't recognize any of his surroundings. It was quite disconcerting.

"We're on the west end of the Lorelei Rock. The Lorelei lives on the north end. It's a three hour walk."

"Well then, let's get going." Jareth rose from the hard rock. He was about to switch to his barn owl form when Laga stopped him with a shake of her head.

"There are too many mortals around for that, Jareth. We will have to walk."

He groaned, "At this pace Loki will be in the center of the Labyrinth before we even _find_ the Lorelei."

Laga grinned as they set about walking across the wooded rock, "I think you're underestimating that maze you built, Jareth. Remember that Sarah is the exception and not the rule."

At that he grinned in such a feral manner that a shiver ran down Laga's spine, "I revise my statement, my dear friend: I will find it interesting to note how many oubliettes he falls into on his journey."

Laga laughed, "I will bet you a week trip to the mountain cabin that he falls in less than five."

The mountain cabin was located in an isolated part of the mountain range that separated Laga's land (she was a Duchess and in ownership of quite a large potion of land) in two. It was quite a romantic, nostalgic place for Jareth: small in comparison to any other house he had grown up in. When he had been young and needed a place to get away, Laga would let him spend some time there alone.

"And if you win?"

She looked at him innocently, "Why, I want to see that palace you had built a few years back."

"So you can see if Sarah will like her present?"

"So I can fix anything glaringly wrong with your decorating scheme."

---

That first night Sarah found that she couldn't find sleep, no matter how hard she tried. Every time she closed her eyes, terrible thoughts of Jareth falling kept on creeping into her mind's eye.

Finally, when it was nearing four in the morning, Naamah knocked on her door. When she opened it, she found her mother carrying a tray with two mugs on top of it.

"Can I come in?" she asked her daughter sheepishly.

Sarah nodded without speaking and moved to let her into the third set of rooms Sarah had occupied since her stay at Frigg's castle. These were smaller than either Jareth's or Loki's - by Sarah's choice, not Saga's desire - and Sarah fit into them perfectly. But that didn't take away any of the fear she had that Loki would complete his challenge before Jareth returned from his.

"You know, Sarah, I seem to remember a certain part about Aboveground life that I've been neglecting since I left: mother/daughter time." Naamah was wearing a flowing green dressing gown, but somehow she managed to look every bit the queen she was.

Sarah attempted a smile and followed her mother into the sitting room, to sit beside the fire. "I guess that's understandable. You _were_ trying to keep me safe from Loki - not to mention I thought you had died in that car accident with Jeremy."

Naamah nodded sadly, "I am so sorry that I wasn't there for you, Sarah." She handed her daughter one of the mugs, and at her questioning look the queen elaborated, "It's our version of hot chocolate."

Sarah tentatively took a sip, finding it tasted like Mexican hot chocolate, with cinnamon and chili powder. All in all, it was pretty good. "I've meant to ask you, Mother, … how did you choose the name 'Linda' to use when you were Aboveground?"

Naamah sighed and with a small grin she answered, "Actually, I didn't." She took a long draught of her hot chocolate before continuing, "I was transported to Northern Ireland and a midwife who was very indebted to the Old Ways named me." She thought about her statement for a moment before adding, "She was who kept me alive those first years. I never thanked her, either. I guess that's why I named you after her. My small way of saying thank you."

"I thought you named me after my great-grandmother."

"Close enough."

* * *

A/N: The song is a folksong sung around the Rhine about the Lorelei. I'll explain why she's singing it in the next chapter. I thought you'd like this chapter the way it was, instead of waiting another day for a longer one. I'll try to update again by Tuesday but RL happens so I'm not promising anything.

Oh, and originally I had no intention of putting anything about Jareth's or Loki's challenges, but I was persuaded - especially at the prospect of Hoggle and Loki butting heads. Send me ideas for what you'd like to see happen to Loki or Jareth during their challenges.


	9. Dangers Untold

A/N: I think I've kept you guys waiting long enough in suspense. Just so you know, I had every intention (since I wrote his exit scene) to bring Andvari back into play. It just so happened that he didn't want to come back in until his brother was out of the house on ... business.

* * *

Andvari sat in the silence of his cell, bored out of his mind. It had been nine days since he'd been shut up in this cell and he was beginning to wonder what his father had planned as his punishment. It certainly could not be much worse than how he was suffering now without any contact whatsoever.

That is why, it came as a slight shock when he was directly transported from his cell to the court of the High King. With a quick glance around the room, he noticed something important: Jareth wasn't there.

"High Prince Andvari, for your misuse of the magic gifted you by the Spirits," his father said regally, "You will live without the magics you misused for the next thousand years."

Frigg stood and threw a crystal at her youngest son, causing him to stumble back. Andvari felt his power return to him.

But not all.

No, it wasn't all there. He could feel the power flowing through him would bend to transportation spells and defensive maneuvers … but he could not use his magic to manipulate. Anything.

Andvari was furious. A thousand years with only half his power? How was he supposed to survive in this world without it?

He tried to calm his beating heart, knowing it would be fruitless to get upset at his parents. They had to uphold the law, and he was not above the law. Or, at least, that's what they'd been telling him since childhood and his first magic duel with Jareth: "You are not above the law!"

"Where is my brother?" he asked his parents shortly after he was returned to half-power.

"He is Aboveground fulfilling a test to prove his challenge of King Loki's claim on Princess Sarah is valid." Frigg looked at her youngest with something akin to the look parents give their toddlers when they ask ridiculous questions.

Andvari raised his eyebrows, "Loki has claimed Sarah? Why was I not informed, as her fiancé?"

"The Princess has made her thoughts on marriage to you quite clear, son of mine," Wotan spoke up, his voice rich and deep, "And you would not have been given the opportunity to challenge Loki's claim even had you not been imprisoned."

To say that he was upset by his father's words would have been a gross understatement: Andvari was out for blood. Jareth's and Sarah's to be precise.

---

Loki and Magni traversed the stone maze for hours without finding their way out. It was hopeless, in Loki's opinion, to travel thusly when he should be able to just transform to a bird and fly over the damn maze! He sincerely wanted to demolish the damn thing after he recovered his powers.

The first oubliette sort of … snuck up upon the pair as they traversed the Labyrinth. Somehow they had made their way to where the stone maze meets one of the forests within the Labyrinth, and neither could see the hole in the ground until it was too late.

"Ahhh!" they cried as they fell.

Seemingly out of nowhere, as they fell, hands grabbed at them.

"I demand that you let go of me this instant," Loki told the hands.

"As you wish," the helping hands replied, dropping the pompous ass into the oubliette below.

"And you?" they formed grotesque faces with which to inquire of Magni.

"What?"

"Which way? Come on, we haven't got all day."

"Which way what?" Magni asked, trying to shift his weight so that the hands gripping him weren't touching anything … vital.

"Which way do you want to go? Up or down?"

Magni paused, unsure which way he should go: Loki was down … but he'd heard stories of the oubliettes in his uncle's Labyrinth. And Loki wasn't being very nice to him. In fact, he was being down right mean.

"Up. Let me go up, please," the Fae prince finally asked.

"He chose _up_!"

"He chose _up_?"

"He chose _up_!"

As the helping hands mocked him, they were passing him up toward the opening. From behind him, Magni could hear Loki calling out, "MAGNI! You can't leave me here!"

"I'm not leaving you," Magni called back down. "I'm scouting for the way out of this section of the maze. Look for a way out of that hole you're in."

Loki looked around the pitch blackness that surrounded him. He could hear movement off to his side and turned in that direction, silently thanking his father for having drilled into him the need to learn to see without his sight.

"Who's there?" he demanded of the darkness.

"Me," a gruff, familiar voice said as he lit a match and a candle.

Loki groaned as Hoggle appeared. It appeared that he wasn't going to get out of this oubliette any time soon. Damn dwarf.

---

It didn't take too very long for Jareth and Laga to reach the cave the Lorelei dwelt at during the day. Laga stopped Jareth at the start of the cave, "She has as much power over you as she has over all men, my friend. I will see if I can convince her to leave her home for a visit."

Jareth hesitated: he wanted to go in and do this himself, but he knew that Laga's argument was well founded. He couldn't afford to get entranced by the Lorelei a second time. At long last he nodded, "If you do not return within the hour, I will go in after you and do things my way, dear friend. Be warned."

Laga smiled tensely, "I would expect nothing less of you, Jareth." She nodded once, "An hour then."

"An hour."

Jareth watched his friend enter the cave bravely, before he settled down to wait her return - hopefully with the Lorelei in tow.

---

"Lorelei, show yourself," Laga called out to the darkness.

A rich laughter answered her, "Why would one of the Fair Folk visit here? What business do you have?"

Laga's calculating eyes pierced through the darkness, her falcon vision enabling her to make out the golden hair of her prey. "The business of true love. You are the key to the happiness of two of the Fae, and the restoration of a kingdom."

The laughter turned bitter. "The Fae took no notice of my own suffering, why should I take notice of theirs? You forget to whom you are speaking, Fair One."

Laga felt her heart hammering on her rib cage. She had known it wouldn't be easy, but that did not mean she had not hoped it would be. "The love of which I speak is intercepted by a third party, Lorelei. If you do not return - even for a short time - to Ida, then their pain will be added to yours."

The Lorelei darted out in front of Laga, the rage evident on her face, "Why should I care about the suffering of two who refused to alleviate mine?"

"Because you are one of us."

"I left your kind long ago, Fair One. To wallow in the misery bestowed upon me by the cruelty of my peers." The Lorelei's eyes were filled with a hate that did not surprise Laga in the least.

"Those who would suffer broken hearts were not yet born when your love was taken by the sea."

"And that matters?"

Their conversation continued in like manner, with Laga trying desperately to persuade the Lorelei to save Sarah and Jareth from their fate, and the Lorelei responding each and every time with the question of why it was her problem.

Exactly one hour to the minute since Laga had left Jareth to try her luck with the Lorelei, the male Fae stormed into the cave, a crystal sphere in his hand.

The Lorelei screamed when she saw him. She tried to run from the crystal he threw at her, but it did not stop the spell from taking her song.

Her eyes bore the haunting look of betrayal as she felt the depth of her loss. "You would take away my one pleasure, Fair One?"

His eyes burned with rage at her, "I would have you return to the Underground so that my bride can take her rightful place by my side."

The Lorelei raised her eyebrows at him, "So you are the young Fae whose heart is in desperate need of saving? I have heard much about you in the stories of the faerie, Goblin King."

Jareth's gaze darkened, "Not all that is said about my role is correct, enchantress. I will offer you a gift in exchange for your cooperation in this matter."

The crystal that appeared on Jareth's fingertips showed the Lorelei a face she had not seen in millennia. "You mock my pain, Goblin King," she said, her voice full of sorrow and unshed tears.

"I mock none of it." Within Jareth's voice the Lorelei found an empathy she thought impossible, "Instead, I offer you one year with the man you have been denied."

"Impossible," she whispered, her voice betraying how much she wanted to believe. "And even if it were not, the cost to you would be too high. Why would you pay?"

Jareth pushed the crystal into her face as he hissed, "Because I have lived without her for eight years and I can only begin to fathom the pain I would feel having to live without her for eight thousand. Whatever price I have to pay in order to have her in my arms until her dying day … _it is worth it_."

"You love a mortal?" the Lorelei questioned, wondering how similar their cases truly were.

"She remains half mortal," he told her, "Through her father's blood."

"Destined to die as her father will die."

"_Yes_. Take the crystal." Jareth knew what it would cost him to visit Hell and retrieve for one year the mortal spirit of her love.

The Lorelei still refused to take the orb. "Much has changed in the past millennia, Goblin King."

"Would you deny us both, then, Lorelei? Condemn us both to an eternity of loneliness?"

Their conversation extended for hours, as the sky grew first dark, then light again. The Lorelei grew weary of the argument and Jareth as he picked apart her reasons for refusing. It was only after near twenty hours of arguing with the unrelenting Fae Prince that Laga witnessed what she would remember until her last breath:

As if defying her own conscious, the Lorelei reached out and took the offered gift.

---

Andvari looked closely at the swords in his own personal collection. The blade was forged steel and titanium, from the Aboveground. It was a very … interesting blade, made by an old Norse black smith with knowledge of the Old Ways. There were Norse symbols etched into the blade itself, running the length, and the handle.

It would be the perfect weapon to use on first his brother, then his brother's … toy.

As he examined the blade and made sure it was of the proper weight, Andvari thought of how he had come to be in the mess he was in. Of course, the selfish man blamed his older twin and Sarah for his own falling out with their father. That's the way it had been since they were children: Jareth had always been goading Andvari into things, and then leaving him to clean up the mess and fallout on his own.

Well, not this time. _This_ time, Andvari would see to it that his brother paid for all the hurt and suffering Andvari had endured in his years Above. He had gone from being seen as a god among men - blessed for his knowledge and power - to being outcast, and spit upon when the Holy Roman Catholic Church had seized power from the old deities. Every time mortal scum had kicked at his body, sneered at his words, mocked his ways, and murdered the children he had sired Andvari had cursed his brother, Jareth.

And now, _now_ was the time to bring those curses to fulfillment. Now was the time to make his brother pay as fully as Andvari had paid.

Unconsciously, his hand turned white as it gripped the hilt of the magicked sword.

---

Loki sneered in disgust at the sight before his eyes; it had taken him roughly twenty-six hours, but he had finally succeeded in finding the center of the blasted Labyrinth. _Through dangers untold, and hardships unnumbered_, he thought bitterly. "I'll give you hardships unnumbered, Goblin King," he whispered harshly aloud. At every turn he had been bombarded with traps, denizens unwilling to help in his quest. It almost seemed as if they _liked_ their king.

Impossible. Jareth had never been liked by the commoners.

"Took you long enough," a voice said from behind Loki. He turned and saw Magni leaning against the castle wall behind him.

"What happened to you aiding me in this quest?" Loki shot back.

"I have been," the prince told him definitely.

"By deserting me in an oubliette?" Loki's voice was cold and mocking.

Magni smirked in a manner much too similar to his uncle for Loki to be comfortable. "Yes. While you were trying to find a way past the Bog of Eternal Stench, I was in Jareth's library with that dwarf, Hoggle."

"Yes, what is it?" If there was a faster way to get out of the damn maze than solving it again, Loki was all ears to Magni's plan.

Magni's smirk intensified, "Did you know that there are underground tunnels leading directly from the castle to the gate at the start of the Labyrinth?"

"You have the blueprints?" This was almost too good to be true.

"Better," Magni replied, motioning with his hand for someone to step into the light, "I have the dwarf who oversaw the project."

Into the light, stepped Hoggle.

* * *

A/N: If you're lucky I'll update again on Wednesday after I take the test to get a driver's permit at the DMV. I'm going late to the game with that, but considering my mother didn't get her license until she was thirty, I think I'm okay. Much younger than thirty.

Anywho, I hope you enjoyed this. Please tell me what you thought of Andvari's reenterance.


	10. Return of the Champion

A/N: I'm such a mean, mean author! I'm terribly sorry about the long wait, but real life just got the better of me. Right when I posted the last chapter, I got really into another author's works on here: **PaisleyRose**. If you have the time and don't mind things a little on the graphic side, go check her stuff out. You can safely add romance to almost all of her works. The _Forged _series and _Crystal Dreams_ series are my personal favorites, but all her stuff is good ... except for an evil Jareth story I couldn't bring myself to read.

Anyway, right when I started getting emersed into her writing, I found myself with a terrible case of writer's block ... then the semester started with me taking five classes that even out to 15 units. Not uncommon, but also not a light load, by any means.

On the bright side, I passed my driver's test and I'm becoming fairly confident behind the wheel of the massive van my brother-in-law is using to teach me the ropes.

Now, I know this chapter is shorter than usual (by a lot), but I thought you guys would enjoy it now as opposed to later.

* * *

Sarah was in the apple orchard with her mother when the guards appeared. They bore the crest of the High King, and the mark of the elite guard. Apparently something important was going on. 

"Princess Sarah, you are to come with us to see the High King. Your champion has returned from his test to claim you from the other." The guard that had spoken was the taller of the two; in his hand was an ugly looking mace, as opposed to the staff the other carried.

Sarah bravely took a step toward them, loosing her death grip on her mother's hand. By the look in each guard's face, Sarah knew they would not tell her which 'champion' had returned to claim her. Of course, it didn't really matter which it was. She was bound by her mother's words to obey, regardless.

The sight that greeted her eyes was one that filled her starved soul with joy: Jareth had returned to her. He had made it back before Loki had completed the Labyrinth. No matter how hard she tried, she could not contain the smile on her face, or her feet as they raced toward his arms.

She stopped inches from his form, checking him over discretely for injury. When she found none, she smiled into his eyes with relief and dipped into the low curtsy that Fionn had taught her to use with the high royal family.

As she sank down to the floor, Jareth drank in the sight of _his_ Sarah, dressed in a lovely dark red gown that complimented her skin and hair perfectly. He was about to motion for her to rise when the Lorelei made a sound that sounded like a high pitched screech. He motioned swiftly, pulling her to his side in one quick movement as he turned toward the other immortal being.

All turned to see what had caused such a reaction from the Lorelei, only to find her staring with a great loathing upon a Fae that had not been there moments before: Loki.

Loki's own face was a lovely shade of white, the only facial sign that the Fae King was in any sort of distress. One of his hands held a little goblin by the arm in a white knuckled grip, leaving little doubt that that he was in just as much shock about seeing the Lorelei there as she was at finding him present during her … visit. The goblin squealed in pain.

Before anyone could react, the Lorelei lunged at the older Fae and tackled him to the ground. Her hands clawed at his face and chest as her knees dug into his sides. Her attack allowed the little goblin a chance to run and hide behind his lord's looming figure a few yards away.

Half a dozen guards moved to remove her from the King of the Fire Pits, but not before she had bloodied his face with her razor sharp nails.

"What is the meaning of this?" Wotan roared, stalking down from his throne to yell at the siren creature before him.

The Lorelei stood her ground proudly, unashamed of her still naked body. "This Fae is responsible for the curse placed upon me at the death of my beloved!" her voice rang loud and true, the charge resounding through the great hall.

"Do you recognize the gravity of your accusation?" Wotan asked, knowing full well that if the Lorelei were to press her accusation, and it would prove true, that Loki would at the very least be stripped of his station and powers for a minimum sentence of one hundred years.

"I do," she said, her voice still clear and firm in its musical tone.

"Clear the hall," Wotan ordered the other Fae present. He spared a moment to look at his son and the woman he had claimed as his own. He nodded once, "By our law, Jareth, Sarah now is yours. Go in peace, my children."

Jareth bowed to his father before turning to his new subject, taking her by the hand and disappearing from the room. Laga and Magni, along with the rest of the assembled crowd, were long gone.

Remaining in the great hall was Loki, Wotan, Frigg, and the Lorelei.

"Loki, do you deny the claim made by the Lorelei, who has spent the last two thousand years in the World of Man because of her grief?" Frigg softly asked her subject.

"Of course I deny it!" spat the angry Fae. "What cause would I have to curse the Fairest of the Fair Folk? Why would I take her beloved from her?"

"Why indeed," Wotan muttered, looking coolly between the accused and the accuser. "I am placing you both under house arrest. Neither of you shall leave Ida's grounds until this matter is settled. He silently sent a call to one of the pixies he kept for his personal use. "My Lady Lorelei, please allow Ping to escort you to your chambers."

The Fae siren knew better than to argue with the man who, while not her king any longer, was the most powerful man in the realm. She bowed her head slightly before following the pixie from the room.

---

Jareth and Sarah rematerialized within his chambers. He smirked at her as she regained her bearings. "Alone at last," he whispered, nuzzling her neck with his nose. "I missed you."

She gasped as his teeth sank into the skin just below her ear. "Missed you, too," she moaned. His tongue darted out and licked the wound he had inflicted upon her unmarred skin, causing her breath to hitch in her throat.

He pulled back, making her growl and pull him back toward her, "Move away like that again and I'll have to teach you a lesson." Her mouth crushed into his as she leaned back toward the soft bed, causing him to fall on top of her.

He smirked down at her, "Is that a promise?"

Her eyes danced with love and laughter as his mouth again descended to capture hers in a passionate kiss that soon, very soon, escalated to more.

---

Andvari strode through the halls of his childhood home, intent on meeting with the other in secret, before his whereabouts were discovered. He counted on little pursuit from his brother, whom was occupied at the moment; but his father's whereabouts were unknown and if Wotan knew what his youngest son was planning, Andvari would be sent sailing head first into the Bog of Eternal Stench faster than one could say 'Goblin babe'. It would be greatly beneficial to Andvari's welfare if he were _not_ caught.

He entered the room he had been traveling toward, already knowing that the one inside was alerted to his presence and would speak to him candidly about the situation he was sure both wished to change.

"Are you not aware of what will happen should you succeed in trying to thwart the prophecy given to your mother millennia ago?" the dejected voice of Loki spoke from the darkened room.

"The only thing I am aware of is that Jareth has been a pain in my side since the day we were born, old man," the young prince spat in response. "You're going to help me kill him."

At this pronouncement, Loki did turn around to look with dead eyes into the loathing orbs of the High Prince that had called upon him in his solitude. "I have already committed an offence that will at the very least have me stripped of my power, foolish boy, why would I consent to helping you in this matter? Murder of Fae by Fae is forbidden by our oldest codes. If I was found having worked in concert with you in this … banishment would be a lenient sentence."

"Old man," Andvari's face bore a mask of barely controlled rage that it struck a chord in the older Fae's heart, "I can see to it that you will be banished whether or not you help me in this."

"The consequences are too high."

"Damn the bloody consequences!" the younger Fae roared as he strode toward his elder. "Jareth has wronged me too many times to go unpunished. Sarah is just the final straw. I _cannot_ bear any more humiliation at my brother's hand and I _will_ _not_ tolerate his prolonged existence!"

Loki turned wordlessly back to again stare out the window he had been facing. After what seemed like a small eternity to Andvari, the elder Fae spoke in a calm tone. "I have over three times as many years as you do, young fool. Do not take my warnings lightly: if you interfere in this matter you will suffer the consequences solely on your head for your stupidity. Providence will not be twisted around to fit your selfish purposes. Sarah was bound to your brother from the moment she called upon him eight years ago. Nothing can, nor will, change that."

The deep, dark pools of wisdom rested again on the young Fae. "Leave your brother and his mate alone, Andvari. Suffer your punishment for trying to take her away from him in the first place and be done with the foolishness."

"You tried to take her from him, old man," Andvari threw Loki's own actions back into his face.

"I was within my rights to test their bond, young fool."

"As I am within my rights to uphold my fiancée's virtue."

Loki snorted, "What virtue? Did you not see the same woman as I? Your brother is pragmatic, if nothing else - she has given him her virtue, and holds his seed within her."

* * *

A/N: We can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I'm not sure how many more chapters are left - I'll let you know when I find out. Thank you all for bearing with me and my not so regulatory updates. I do try, honest. Please tell me if there's a loose end that I'm forgetting about that needs wrapped up before the end of this story. I don't plan on wrapping everything up in a nice little bow, but I will try not to leave major threads dangling. 


	11. End of the Beginning

A/N: I know it's been a very long time since my last update but ... well, real life does have priority over this site, unfortunately. I started five classes, on top of taking care of a toddler, and I just got back from vacation. So much to do, so little time.

* * *

Sarah rested her head on Jareth's bare chest, above his heart. It was a soothing sound that reassured her he was real and not another one of her _many_ dreams about him. She knew he wasn't asleep - his breathing pattern told her that much, but she really wasn't sure how to broach this next issue with him.

"Jareth?" she asked timidly, unsure whether she wanted him to respond or not.

"Hmm?"

"Is there any … _reason_ that I'd get sick from spending too much time in the Underground?" she finally said, hoping she had phrased that right and wouldn't worry him too much.

Her hopes were for naught. Jareth's arm gripped her tightly to his side, "Sick? What kind of sick?" His mind was already racing through the various illnesses that mortals in the Underground contracted that the Aboveground did not contain. It was a grim picture.

"I've been feeling … out of sorts the past few days. Nauseas half the time, but I never actually … _dispel_ anything from my body like that."

Jareth thought for a few minutes, one of his hands unconsciously stroking her arms. After he had come to a conclusion in his mind, he turned so that he was laying on top of his Sarah and began to kiss her neck.

"Jareth," she moaned her complaint half-heartedly, "This is serious."

"Yes," he smirked against her skin. "I know that. But I also know that the morning sickness will pass in time. It always does."

"Okay. … Wait - _what_?" Sarah pushed him back and sat up, unheeding of her nakedness as she gaped at him in shock, "_Morning sickness_?"

Jareth unsuccessfully tried to get close enough to his bonded so that he could resume his attack on her lovely skin. "Quite common with pregnant women, I'm told."

"Pregnant?" she replied, her arms dropping to her sides as she took in the news. While her mind was processing this information, Jareth wasn't helping her any by attacking her neck with that delicious tongue of his. "Stop it," she weakly pushed at his solid form, "I'm trying to _think_ here."

"And _I'm_ trying to celebrate," he teased back, settling back so that she could have room to breath and so that he could examine his handiwork (read: all those lovely red marks now covering her body that marked her as _his_ and his alone).

She looked up at him with wide eyes. "A baby?" she whispered, a smile forming on her face.

He nodded, an answering smirk was all the answer she needed, but he voiced his reply anyway, "Actually, the prophecy mentions five babies."

Her eyes grew wider yet, if that is possible, "What prophecy? Five babies at once? Why the hell aren't you freaking out?"

Jareth sighed and started to make idle patterns on her stomach, over the area where his seed was being nourished by her body. "The prophecy that foretells the bringing of peace to the Underground, my dear. No, not five at once - you're only having one baby this time around. And I am not 'freaking out' because I've known that you're pregnant from the moment of conception. Added benefit to being the father."

That was interesting: he'd always know before she did that she was pregnant? "Is it that way with all Fae?" she asked, genuinely curious about the situation.

He nodded, "Of course, darling. It is the way Providence meant it to be … human males have just learnt to ignore the signs granted to all males."

"So I guess you don't have to argue about paternity then, eh?"

"It's never in question, my darling. Anything else?"

Her thoughts shot back to her life Above. "What happens to Toby, Irene, and Dad? Will they remember me still?"

Jareth grew thoughtful for a moment before saying, "That is up to you, Sarah. Their memories of you can be erased, along with the rest of those you've come in contact with in the Aboveground; or, their memories will be retained and you will have to decide what to tell them."

She grew silent for long moments, her hands covering her stomach in reaction to the life growing inside her womb. When she spoke, it was softly, with a far away look in her eye; "Are they safe Aboveground? If they remember me?"

"Not very, no," Jareth responded. He made her look at him as a serious tone took hold of his voice, "I have my enemies, Sarah. Not even a son of Wotan is without them."

"And if they forget?"

"Their odds of living normal, Aboveground lives increases exponentially."

"Since when did you become a statistician?"

He smirked at her, "Who do you think taught Student all those wonderful rules you have?"

She just rolled her eyes at him, "I do believe that Saga told me that you helped _her_ explain them to Student because you have a better understanding of humans than most Fae."

He scoffed playfully before he became serious again. "You haven't answered my question."

Sarah sighed, pouting at having been caught out in her attempt to change the subject. She looked up at him through her eyelashes, her head down-turned contritely. "They'll be safer if they don't remember?" she asked, her eyes wide and trusting his response to choose her course of action for her.

Jareth nodded once, "They will. No safer than they'd be Underground, but safer than they would be knowing and staying Above."

She frowned prettily, now more than ever wishing the choice were not hers to make. With a huff of frustration she rose from the bed and pulled on a dressing gown, tying it tightly around her waist. She paced for who knew how long before turning to her lover in tears and falling into his arms.

"They need to forget," she whispered into his shoulder as she clung to him as if for dear life. It hurt her so much to know that her baby brother would never remember her - or at the most think her a dream - but it was for the best. Wasn't it?

---

Andvari strode through the halls after his failed attempt to convince Loki to enter into his scheme to kill his brother and the whore bearing his child. He was intent on disturbing whatever time his brother had with the woman that should have been his. Better they die together anyway.

When he reached the door to his brother's chambers, however, he was stopped by three hooded figures.

"You cannot pass," they said in unison. "In your heart lies malice and evil intent toward the Prophesied."

The Fae prince sneered at the three guards, "Who are you to stop me? I am a son of Wotan! Remove yourselves from my path!"

"We move only for those of good intentions, Wotan son. Do not attempt to fight you way through. You will not survive the battle unscathed."

He drew his magicked sword threateningly, "_You_ will not survive the battle _at all_."

---

"Can you tell if it's a boy or a girl?" Sarah asked Jareth after she had calmed down.

Jareth cocked his head to one side, contemplating whether he should tell her or not, "I believe that is best kept as a surprise, my darling."

She screwed her face up in a pout, "I believe it's best for your love life if you tell me. How else am I supposed to decorate the nursery?"

A strangled scream came from just beyond the doorway. The lovers jumped up and raced out to the hallway only to find a sight that would stay with both until their dying day.

Dozens of servants and guards where rushing down the hall toward where the sound had come from. When they arrived, they found Sarah and Jareth (in dressing gowns) on their knees beside Andvari - lying in a crimson pool of his own blood.

None would soon forget the looks of silent, painful anguish on the faces of either the High Prince or his bonded. A son of Wotan was dead.

Fin

* * *

A/N: You can imagine that I'm ducking all the rotten fruit. Here is my challenge to you: If you want a sequel, write it yourself - I've got no time. And can someone please tell me if Toby gets glittery in the movie? Odd question, I know, but I had a rather extensive argument with my brother about it (he says yes, I say no). 


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